Winnipeg police find improvised guns at St. Boniface home

A call for medical help at a St. Boniface home last week netted a handful of homemade guns, including two "bang stick"-style firearms built from a cane and a broomstick, police say.

Emergency personnel responded to a medical incident at a home on Thomas Berry Street around 3 p.m. on Aug. 25, but called in police after a number of weapons were seen inside the home.

Police said three improvised firing devices and various types of ammunition were found in the home, along with five stolen bicycles that have been returned to their owners.

Police spokesperson Const. Jay Murray said one of the improvised firing devices, a brown cane, was found with a spent .410-calibre round inside it. The second, made out of a red-and-white broomstick, had a live .22-calibre round ready to fire, he said.

"The .410 round is a small shotgun round so you can only imagine the damage that does and it's quite surprising that this brown cane was able to contain this blast," said Murray. "The .22-calibre bullet — and this is going to sound a little bit gruesome — but if this was to hit someone in the head it bounces around and causes a lot of damage."

The third improvised gun appears to have been removed from an airsoft rifle, Murray said.

"We believe they were trying to make a firearm out of it," explained Murray, of the airsoft rifle.

A 42-year-old man and a 38-year-old man, both from Winnipeg are facing a list of charges, including three counts of possession of a firearm, three counts of possession of a firearm obtained by crime and three counts of possession of a restricted weapon.

Winnipeg police have seized nine improvised firing devices so far this year, up from just two seized in the city in 2016, Murray said.