Winnipeg police are searching for a suspect who sexually assaulted a stranger walking through a city park on her way home early Sunday morning.
The woman, who’s in her 20s, called 911 at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday after she was attacked in the west side of Kirkbridge Park in Richmond West.
The victim had gotten off a bus at Pembina Highway and Kirkbridge Drive and cut through the park on her way home when a man she did not know accosted her and pulled her to the ground and assaulted her both sexually and physically, said Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon.
“This is a scenario where somebody was walking home from a bus… walking through an area that she felt very comfortable and familiar with… and was taken absolutely by surprise,” McKinnon said Monday. “It’s extremely alarming, it’s very scary.”
The woman struggled to try to flee the attacker’s grasp and the suspect eventually got up and fled on a bicycle. The victim ran and called police.
She went to hospital for a medical examination as part of the sex assault investigation, said McKinnon.
The initial description the victim gave police was of a man with light skin, about five-foot-eight tall, with an average build. The man spoke English and was dressed in all black, including a baseball cap, pants and a medical mask, police said.
Investigators did not have a description of the bicycle.
McKinnon said police are hoping to warn area residents about the potential danger and are seeking tips on the man’s identity.
“We put this warning out, not as an attempt to terrify other females that live in that neighbourhood, but to raise an awareness that at this particular time, this uncommon event occurred in this neighbourhood, and until this person’s identified and arrested, we are looking for public assistance,” said McKinnon.
She said police don’t yet know whether the man frequents the area.
Police have asked anyone with information related to the attack or video surveillance from the area to call sex crimes investigators at 204-986-6245 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477 or give tips online at winnipegcrimestoppers.org.
McKinnon added she expects many people in the area have video surveillance on their homes and hopes they contact investigators.
“I’m just really hoping that the investigators will gather some surveillance or get more witnesses, potentially, who maybe had seen him in the area prior on his bike, or perhaps afterwards on his bike,” she said.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
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