‘I kind of want to leave now’

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This article was published 24/02/2019 (2132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Questions and speculation abound through the dimly lit hallways of a three-storey West Broadway apartment complex, where police fatally shot a man Saturday morning.

Crime scene tape remained up throughout the building at 182 Colony St. on Sunday, the site of the third police-involved shooting in Winnipeg in 2019.

A Winnipeg Police Service cruiser car, alongside another unmarked police vehicle, could be seen posted in front of the building.

A handful of WPS officers were milling about the complex’s second floor hallway, near the door to one of the middle suites, when a Free Press reporter was on scene Sunday afternoon. Crime scene tape also blocked off the back stairwell past the first floor.

Multiple residents who spoke with the Free Press said WPS officers and staff with the Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) — the provincial civilian-led police watchdog — have been mum on details about the shooting when speaking to tenants.

Two men who live in the building did not know a man had been shot dead by police, despite having spoken with investigators.

“Well I guess this place isn’t safe. I kind of want to leave now,” said Joe Macina, a first-floor tenant, upon learning a man had been killed.

Macina said he was home Saturday morning around 9:45 a.m. when police reportedly responded to a suite in the building. While it remains unclear what happened, a man was fatally shot and later died in hospital.

Macina said he remembers hearing a commotion that morning, although he didn’t hear anything that resembled the sound of a gunshot.

“I heard some noise. Whatever it was, I opened the door to check the hallway two or three times, but I didn’t see anything. I kind of just thought maybe someone was getting evicted from the building,” Macina said.

Multiple tenants said police officers escorted them into and out of the apartment complex Saturday, likely in an effort to secure the scene.

A number of household items could be seen smashed and discarded on the ground outside the back of the building Sunday, including a fridge, stove, bed and dresser.

One tenant said he believed the man who was killed by police had dumped the items at the back of the building early Saturday morning, although he couldn’t say whether that had anything to do with police being called to the complex.

An IIU spokeswoman said Saturday the agency would release additional details on the shooting today.

Saturday’s incident marks the second police-involved shooting in Winnipeg in 2019 that has turned deadly.

The first occurred Jan. 9 during a police chase of suspects wanted in connection with an alleged assault. During the chase, the suspect vehicle rammed a police blockade near Panet Road and Nairn Avenue, at which point police opened fire.

A 23-year-old man charged in the initial assault was found to be suffering from a gunshot wound when taken into custody. He was later treated at hospital.

Two days later, on Jan. 11, police killed Chad Williams, 26, after he fled from police officers who approached him for “acting suspiciously” in the area of Sargent Avenue and Maryland Street.

The IIU is investigating all three police-involved shootings.

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