Police say an inmate coerced a woman into acquiring a gun licence while he was behind bars and, after he was released, got her to buy him a gun, acted as her pimp, robbed one person and knifepoint and shot another, and leapt from an upper level of a parkade while fleeing police.
The Winnipeg Police Service’s domestic violence unit began an investigation into the man, who had recently been released from a prison in Edmonton, earlier this month after he travelled to Winnipeg. The man’s travelling here violated conditions of his release order, and the suspect was believed to have an illegally obtained gun.
Police said an investigation determined the suspect contacted a woman in Winnipeg during his incarceration and coerced her into obtaining a possession-and-acquisition licence so she could buy a gun.
The man contacted the woman and arranged to meet after he was released from custody and in Winnipeg, police said. The pair went to Cabela’s, and the man gave her the money to buy a semi-automatic GSG-16 .22-calibre rifle and ammunition, which he took with him, the WPS said.
Police said the man also directed the victim to advertise providing sexual services online and to give him the money she made.
“During this time, the victim was under constant watch of the suspect, forcibly confined and physically assaulted. Given the threats and assaults, the victim complied with his demands, fearing retribution,” police said in a news release Thursday.
Police began searching for a suspect when a 48-year-old man was shot after an argument on a lane behind 200 Young Street at about noon Tuesday. The victim, who was shot in the lower body, was transported to hospital in unstable condition and later upgraded to stable. The suspect, who knows the victim, fled before police arrived.
Later that day, at about 2:32 p.m., a traffic-assigned WPS officer driving a motorcycle saw a suspect in the area of Carlton Street and Graham Avenue. Officers chased the man on foot as he fled to a nearby, multi-level covered parkade on the 200 block of Graham.
The suspect jumped from the parkade, falling about 30 feet to the ground below, the WPS said. He was transported to hospital and treated for injuries from the jump. Police said they seized about 9.5 grams of fentanyl and about $800 in cash from the man.
The WPS major crimes unit later linked the suspect to a robbery at a restaurant on the 1400 block of Ellice Avenue on Aug. 11. A suspect had approached a 51-year-old man and tried to rob him of personal property at knifepoint. The suspect fled, without getting any cash or items, before police arrived. The man was arrested for the robbery Wednesday, after he was already in custody.
Dustin Wayne Johnson, 28, of Winnipeg, is charged with numerous offences, including multiple firearms charges, four counts of failing to comply with a probation order and single counts of robbery and possession of fentanyl. He was also arrested on a warrant for forcible confinement, assault and procuring a person to provide sexual services.
Johnson was detained in custody.
Court records show he has a lengthy criminal history in Manitoba, including multiple drug and weapon convictions. Johnson was sentenced in 2019 to four years in prison for possession of a restricted firearm and related weapon offences. He was sentenced to six months in jail in 2022 for assaulting a police officer.
The WPS said in May 2019 that officers arrested Johnson while he was wearing body armour and had a loaded, .22-calibre semi-automatic handgun, 21 grams of cocaine and $2,940 in cash on him.
— with files from Dean Pritchard
adam.treusch@freepress.mb.ca