Winnipeg grocery store stabbing suspect arrested, charged in another violent robbery

An 18-year-old man is charged in two violent robberies in Winnipeg, including one in the city's West End where a grocery store employee was stabbed.

The employee, a 59-year-old woman, was attacked on Nov. 29 by a man who was shoplifting at the No Frills store on Notre Dame Avenue and Langside Street, police say.

The man went into the store, picked up several items and was heading to the exit when he confronted the woman and stabbed her in the upper body. He left before police arrived, but surveillance cameras captured his image, which police put out to the public.

The man was arrested around 7:15 p.m. Friday on at a residence on William Avenue, near the Health Sciences Centre. He was released from custody with an order to appear in court at a later date.

Through further investigation, he was also linked to a Nov. 19 robbery at a retail store on Donald Street, off Ellice Avenue. Police say he and another man were armed with a hammer and an axe during the robbery, in which a security guard, 28, was assaulted and robbed of his cellphone.

The two men stole some items from the store and ran before police arrived. The guard was not seriously injured.

Police returned to the 18-year-old man's house on Saturday and re-arrested him for that November incident. The identity of the second man in the November robbery is not yet known, police said.

The man is charged with robbery, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon.

He has been detained in custody.