Random homicides put Winnipeg on edge

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/06/2019 (2021 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The effect of Winnipeg’s rash of random homicides extends beyond the people who had the grave misfortune to be in the path of killers. When victims are chosen by chance, when it could happen to any of us, the community feels anxious.

After a homicide, the public wants to know the circumstances leading to the death. They don’t necessarily want the bloody details, but they want to know why it happened so they can mentally class the tragedy into one of two categories: did the victim put himself in a dangerous situation? Or was it random?

The category of dangerous situations can include living with a domestic partner who is violent, or associating with people involved in such illicit activities as street gangs, prostitution or the drug trade.

The lives of people who are killed in such situations are not less valuable, but the context leading to their deaths is publicly parsed because people want to believe they and their loved ones will be safe if they avoid such dangerous circumstances.

Random attacks are more alarming. When people feel their fate is out of their control, it’s distressing.

Winnipeg’s unusually high number of homicides this year — 22 so far — compares with 22 for all of 2018. At this rate, 2019 could be Winnipeg’s worst year for homicides.

The slayings so far this year include at least five, and probably more, in which the victims seem to have been chosen at random.

On June 7, Robert Christian Donaldson, 51, was fatally stabbed outside his building on Sherbrook Street. He apparently had no previous contact with Rodney Byron Williams, 34, who is now charged with his death.

On June 2, lawyer Justin Silicz, 32, was killed in a confrontation as he and two friends were walking back to his parked car and were approached by three men on Arlington Street at Winnipeg Avenue at 4:30 a.m.

Winnipeg police Const. Rob Carver commented, “The last two homicides appear to be absolutely random attacks where the victim and the assailant didn’t know each other, didn’t have any sort of interaction where anyone can make any sense as to why there was an assault, let alone ending in a murder. I think that’s very disturbing, for anyone looking at these, to think that they’re just random.”

Another victim of a random attack was Jaime Adao, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Tec Voc High School. He and his grandmother were in their home on the 700 block of McGee Street on March 3 when the house was invaded. The teen died after being stabbed in a confrontation with two men.

At least two other homicides this year began as street robberies in which the attackers apparently picked their victims at random. There are five homicides this year that remain unsolved, and others in which police haven’t disclosed the motivation of the killers, so the tally of homicides in which the victim was chosen at random is likely greater than five.

The effects of such violence on a community are well-studied by social scientists, including James Q. Wilson, whose “broken windows” theory of law enforcement was adopted for crime-reduction programs in cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

Wilson wrote this: “Predatory crime does not merely victimize individuals, it impedes and, in the extreme case, prevents the formation and maintenance of community. By disrupting the delicate nexus of ties, formal and informal, by which we are linked with our neighbours, crime atomizes society and makes of its members mere individual calculators estimating their own advantage.”

When their sense of safety is broken, people often take measures to protect themselves. They enrol in self-defence classes, get scary dogs, carry defensive weapons or, if they can afford it, buy homes in gated communities. Some become wary of their neighbours and nervous to walk the streets, which corrodes the notion of secure community.

People will avoid geographical areas they feel are more dangerous, reversing the commendable work by groups such as the North End’s Bear Clan Patrol and the North Point Douglas Residents Committee to restore the image of their neighbourhoods.

Also, if it’s felt certain ethnic groups are disproportionately responsible for the random violence, that belief can reinforce racist stereotypes.

In reality, the objective odds of becoming a victim of a random homicide in Winnipeg are extremely low. But there’s often a mismatch between real risk and perceived risk. Many people adjust their attitudes and their lives according to the risk they perceive.

Winnipeg needs its community leaders to be accountable and address the public in depth about the recent swell in random homicides and the preventative measures being taken. It’s not enough to say it’s due to meth use. How are authorities trying to curb that epidemic?

The pact between Winnipeggers and police is that we hire them to maintain order and, in return, we don’t need to protect ourselves in ways that can include carrying personal weapons, as many Americans are inclined to do.

It’s incumbent on the mayor and police chief to publicly and steadily reassure Winnipeggers. They should quell exaggerated fears, and explain why we can still trust them to keep citizens safe.

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.

carl.degurse@freepress.mb.ca