Alleged teen killer arrested; second Point Douglas victim dies

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This article was published 25/08/2022 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 15-year-old teen, who had been evading the police, has been arrested, Winnipeg police said Sunday. It comes after a second person died in relation to a series of vicious, random attacks in Point Douglas last week.

One of the men who was critically injured died Thursday, police said. Marvin William Felix, 54, was attacked in a lane behind a hotel on the 600 block of Main Street.

A 36-year-old mother, Danielle Dawn Ballantyne, was identified as the first slaying victim. Her body was found in a Jarvis Avenue apartment around 7 a.m. Monday, not far from where three other attacks occurred.

Police had issued a photo of the 15-year-old suspect. Police said they suspected he was in Winnipeg and had obtained a court order to allow them to release the suspect’s name and photo. The information has been taken down since then.

He is wanted on a Canada-wide arrest warrant for two counts of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault.

A second 15-year-old was taken into custody Wednesday and is charged with the same offences.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act prohibits the release of young suspects’ names, barring temporary authorization by a judge.

The suspect is about 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds, with a “significant” scar on his left cheek, police said.

Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon emphasized the suspect is considered dangerous and shouldn’t be approached.

At a late afternoon news conference Friday, McKinnon said the “extremely” concerning violence has shaken the community as well as law enforcement.

“I’m supposed to come up here and make the community feel at ease. We are rocked by these incidents. It’s shocking that two homicides have happened at the hands of two youths for completely unknown reasons,” she said.

Police have not given a motive for the attacks, and haven’t speculated on whether it was a gang initiation.

“Maybe investigators will be able to shed a little bit more light on it in the future. This investigation is still very fluid, it’s still moving. We have not arrested (the second accused) — that could also, hopefully, shed some light on why this happened.”

The bloodshed began at around 4:30 a.m. Monday, when a man was found critically injured in a parking lot on the 800 block of Main Street. He remains in hospital in critical condition.

Thirty minutes later, Felix was found critically injured, becoming Winnipeg’s 35th homicide victim of the year. At that scene, a wheelchair sat abandoned behind police tape on Monday.

A man with lesser injuries flagged down police who were patrolling near the Disraeli Freeway and Logan Avenue at about 5:30 a.m. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.

At about 7 a.m., police were called to 189 Jarvis Ave., just off the 800 block of Main Street, where Ballantyne was found dead.

She was originally from Misipawistik Cree Nation, about 415 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. Her loved ones said she had been through hard times, including drug addiction and living from place to place, but had recently made positive strides.

On Friday, the Jarvis apartment block’s door was wide open as people came and went, and what appeared to be dried blood spatter remained on the wall next to the staircase, where on the banister someone had written the phrase “welcome to the jungle” in permanent ink.

Police have increased foot and vehicle patrols in the neighbourhood, while working with community groups.

Police have not commented on the background of the victims, noting they don’t appear to have been targeted for any particular reason, but advocates suspect they were homeless or otherwise vulnerable people.

More assailants are suspected to have been involved in the attack on the 800 block of Main Street, while investigators have not determined who attacked the man on the Disraeli Freeway and Logan Avenue.

McKinnon would not rule out whether more assailants could have been involved in the attacks on Ballantyne or Felix.

The spokeswoman would not reveal whether investigators believe any of the victims were attacked with a weapon, although she said Thursday none of them had been shot.

“We are still looking for a wanted person for second-degree murder and investigators will be… interviewing him, and there’s information that perhaps (the accused) will only know,” McKinnon said Friday.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera