Senior suffers life-altering injuries in home invasion, assault Neighbours on Garden City street rattled after two homes targeted on consecutive days By: Erik Pindera Posted: 11:31 AM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022 Last Modified: 1:20 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 1, 2022 Updates

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A brutal home invasion and assault with a weapon on a quiet, tree-lined Garden City street last week has left an elderly man with life-altering injuries.

Winnipeg police believe the same suspect targeted two homes on the same block, one on Aug. 21 and the other the next day.

The suspect didn’t know the victims and chose the homes at random, according to police.

“There’s more all over, including residential areas,” Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said, referring to violent crime.

“It’s as concerning (to police) as it is to the citizens that are living in those neighbourhoods; it’s alarming and it’s upsetting, and the only thing we can do on our end is have more coverage, more presence.”

Community support officers have increased patrols in the area, including on foot, Chancy noted.

Officers attended the scene of a reported robbery at a home on the first 100 block of Woodcrest Drive at about 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 22.

They found a 70-year-old man with serious injuries to his upper body. Officers arrested the suspect, who was still inside the home.

Paramedics took the victim to hospital in unstable condition.

Major crimes investigators say the suspect forced his way into the home when the resident answered the door and assaulted the man with a weapon. Chancy would not specify what type of weapon was used, but it wasn’t a firearm.

A woman, 64, fled to a neighbour’s house during the assault, and police were called.

The suspect tried to prevent the couple from fleeing their home, Chancy said.

The incidents last week were unusual on the street, said a neighbour, who asked not to be identified out of safety concerns.

“We’ve never had anything nearly as crazy as that,” said the 34-year-old mother of two, who moved into her home with her husband late last year.

The suspect, who was strangely clothed in a long shirt or dress, was carrying a plastic grocery bag while he knocked on doors. she said.

“My daughter and I noticed him walking — ‘who is that?’ — that’s when we noticed he was knocking on our neighbour’s door,” she said.

“The neighbour opened (the door), so we assumed he knew them because he walked right in. Ten, 15 minutes later a whole bunch of cop cars pulled up.”

At least four police cars quickly showed up, and officers had to break through a side door to get into the home, where the retired couple live with their small dog, the woman said.

“It was ten, fifteen minutes, and they caught him. We actually watched him get arrested and put in the cruiser, thank God,” she said.

Now, she’s concerned for her safety, spending time in the yard with her children only when other neighbours are out, too, the neighbour said.

“It’s scary, I have two young kids. That could have been me had I opened the door,” she said.

Investigators believe that suspect had broken into another home on the block at about 8 p.m. the night before after scaring a 64-year-old resident away from her property.

The man stole various personal items, including the keys to the homeowner’s vehicle, which he used to flee before police arrived, police said.

The stolen vehicle has since been recovered, Chancy said.

Clarence Harvey Murdock, 34, of Winnipeg, is charged with multiple offences, including aggravated assault during a break-and-enter, theft over $5,000 during a break-and-enter, two counts of forcible confinement, possession of a weapon and failing to comply with a probation order.

He was also charged on two arrest warrants, one for failing to comply with a probation order. The other is for three counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and one count of causing a disturbance.

He remains in custody.

Court records show Murdock has a record of convictions for theft and assault and a history of drug addiction, most recently to methamphetamine.

Last summer, Murdock pleaded guilty to two counts each of theft and assault with a weapon and was sentenced to 10 months in jail. Court heard he became aggressive with an Osborne Village restaurant server after he was asked to pay his bill and followed him out of the restaurant waving a plastic road bollard. Murdock proceeded to a nearby convenience store where he asked for a package of cigarettes, refused to pay, and threatened a store clerk with the bollard.

Security video showed Murdock was “very out of it,” Crown attorney Mick Saunders told court.

“I think if we can get his addiction issues under control… I think that is where all his behaviour stems from,” he said.

Murdock said he had no memory of the incident. “I don’t remember much when I am under the influence,” he told provincial court Judge Brent Stewart.

“Get away from that meth, because it’s a killer,” Stewart told him.

— with files from Dean Pritchard

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.

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