Police mum about suspects in fatal shooting

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This article was published 15/08/2021 (1229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police wouldn’t say whether a suspect had been identified in the fatal shooting of a 45-year-old woman in the West End early Monday — the city’s 26th homicide of the year.

When officers responded around 2 a.m., they found the woman lying on the road in the 500 block of Young Street. She was suffering from a severe gunshot wound.

After police performed emergency first aid, the woman was transported to hospital in critical condition, but later died.

It marked the seventh killing in the city in about three weeks; four of which happened in the West End.

Monday afternoon, the crime scene — near 512 Young St. — was cordoned off with police tape. The lane between Young and Langside streets was barricaded as investigators scoured the area.

A black hat was in the street next to what appeared to be a blood stain.

A resident, who wouldn’t give his name, said he heard the gunshot “sometime after midnight,” and he’d thought it was someone trying to “break my window again.”

Police spokesman Const. Rob Carver said it was too early in the investigation to determine if the shooting was gang-related.

Meanwhile, homicide investigators were summoned after the death of a 60-year-old woman in a fire at 157 Scott St. Monday.

The woman was pulled out of the second storey of a residence attached to the rear of the E-Mart Convenience store. She later died in hospital.

One other person who was in the house managed to escape and was taken to hospital in stable condition.

While police have said the fire is suspicious, they have not ruled the death as a homicide.

“When the cause of a fire is unknown and being investigated, and there is a fatality, then homicide takes the lead in the investigation,” said Carver in an email. He added that arson is always considered when the cause of a fire is unknown.

The fire caused extensive damage and spread to an adjacent house at 363 Wardlaw Ave.

Margaret Schiop, who owns the Wardlaw home, said Sunday night she quickly ran out of the house after seeing the flames. At that point, firefighters had pulled up and were started to battle the flames, she said.

She stood barefoot on the sidewalk in front of her home, her hands black with soot.

“You find lots of smoke inside,” she said. “Kitchen is destroyed.”

Schiop said she didn’t know the names of the people who lived on the second-floor apartment attached to the store, but she had interacted with them.

“They are very nice people,” she said. “They are a mom and son together.”

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca