Three arrested in St. Norbert slaying

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This article was published 22/09/2022 (825 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police have taken three men into custody for the slaying of a 59-year-old St. Norbert man in July.

Salah Falah Hasan died after he was shot around 3 a.m. on July 3 inside his home on the 200 block of Houde Drive.

Police say all three suspects arrived at Hasan’s home together, at which time he was shot.

Mohamad Alzreik, 26, Jeffrey William Frame, 42, and David Grant Wall, 38, have each been charged with second-degree murder. Frame faces an additional charge of possessing a restricted or prohibited weapon contrary to a prohibition order.

Police believe Alzreik and Hasan knew each other prior to the killing.

“Investigators are still working to establish whether there was a relationship with the other two suspects,” said Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Jay Murray.

“We don’t believe it was a random incident.”

An area resident told the Free Press at the time Hasan had a violent history with a former boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend. The neighbour said Hasan had been stabbed and had his tires slashed earlier in the year and feared he was being targeted.

Court records show Hasan and his accused killers all had criminal records, with Hasan and Alzreik both facing possible deportation for recent offences.

Hasan was convicted in 2004 of one count of sexual interference involving a minor and sentenced to the equivalent of three years in prison.

In June 2014, Hasan was fined $800 after failing to report to the national sex-offender registry. Hasan’s lawyer told court at the time Hasan was sick and didn’t bother to report because he believed he was about to be deported to his native Iraq.

“The only reason he is still in Canada is because Iraq wouldn’t accept him and now the situation in Iraq would not allow authorities to send him there,” his lawyer told provincial court Judge Michel Chartier.

Hasan was later charged with drug and property offences that were stayed in March 2017. He was back in court in February 2022 when a charge of uttering threats against a woman was stayed and he agreed to a one-year peace bond.

Alzreik, a Syrian refugee, with four young children, was to face possible deportation proceedings after completing a 22-month jail stint for drug trafficking, court heard at his June 2020 sentencing hearing.

Alzreik was arrested after he was pulled over for speeding and found in possession of 75 grams of cocaine and 35 rocks of crack.

Since arriving in Canada as an adult with his wife, Alzreik struggled to find work and during a period of marital estrangement lived in his car and on the street, his lawyer Roberta Campbell told court.

“His transition to Canada has not been easy,” Campbell told provincial court Judge Brent Stewart. “He is going to face many challenges as a refugee. His language skills are limited, he has a Grade 7 education and he has limited work experience.

“He understands the answer isn’t to sell cocaine to make money, even to eat.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca