Homicide detectives are working to confirm the identity of a man who died in hospital after he was found badly bleeding following an assault behind an arena in east Winnipeg early Friday morning.
Patrol officers were called to the 900 block of Dugas Street at about 4:30 a.m. on Friday by Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel who were treating a man who had been found injured in an alley, just off of De Bourment Avenue and adjacent to the rear of the Maginot Arena.
The WFPS personnel, who had been dispatched to the scene for a medical call, determined the man had likely been assaulted as they were treating him and called for police. The man was taken to hospital in critical condition but later died.
Homicide detectives are working on identifying the man, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Steve Spencer said, but have not yet confirmed the details.
“They’re working on it, but there’s been no confirmation,” said Spencer. “As far as how that individual ended up there, at this point it’s under investigation.”
A suspect in the killing has not yet been publicly identified. Spencer said investigators are collecting area surveillance footage and interviewing anyone they can.
“It’s 4:30 in the morning — there’s not that many people around — it’s one of those ones where it takes a little bit to interview and go over video, to try to figure it out,” he said.
Clarence, an 80-year-old who lives on Dugas Street and asked his surname be withheld, awoke to police officers banging on his door at about 5 a.m. on Friday. The slaying had occurred directly behind the home he and his wife share.
The man was found injured beside Clarence’s trashcans and the officers advised him they were cordoning off the area.
“They said an ambulance had taken away someone who was hurt — badly,” said Clarence. “I think the whole city is going bonkers.”
When he looked out in the alley later that day, Clarence said, yellow evidence markers had been placed on spots of blood and clothing left behind in the fray.
The crime scene was cleaned up as of Saturday afternoon, though evidence of an emergency medical response — used latex gloves and packaging for an abdominal bandage — were left behind in the alleyway.
Detectives took footage from Clarence’s surveillance cameras, he said, and on Saturday morning, investigators came to his door to advise him they believe the suspect and victim knew each other. Police spokesman Spencer was not able to confirm that detail Saturday.
Another Dugas Street resident, 61-year-old Glen Derkach, said the area, which is straddled by Lagimodiere Boulevard to the east, industrial land to the north, and residential streets to the south and west, has not seen any major violent incidents in the four or five years he’s resided there with his family.
“It’s pretty quiet around here,” said Derkach. “It’s a shame that right after Christmas something like that happens.”
He didn’t have work on Friday and stayed over at his brother-in-law’s place nearby instead. He said he was glad he had done so, because he walks across the arena’s sports field before 5 a.m. daily to get to his workplace.
Derkach said his 10-year-old son is now scared to go play out in the field behind their home.
Police have asked anyone with information on the killing to call detectives at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.
The unidentified man’s killing marks the 37th homicide in Winnipeg this year, though police include the 2023 slayings of two infants in their internal 2024 statistics, because arrests were made this year.
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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