Manitoba

Police identify victims of weekend double homicide

Winnipeg police have identified two men that were killed early Sunday morning on Ross Avenue.

Winnipeg has now reached 36 homicides in 2019

Police have identified two men that died early Sunday morning. (Warren Kay/CBC)

Winnipeg police have identified two men that were killed early Sunday morning on Ross Avenue as 32-year-old Edwin Harper and 62-year-old Wayne Palidwor.

Around 2:30 a.m., police responded to an incident where two men were found lying on the ground and suffering from injuries in a back lane near Ross Avenue and Isabel Street. 
   
Both men were sent to hospital in critical condition, but later succumbed to their injuries.

Edwin Harper's mother, Colleen, said her son was staying with her the night he was killed.

She said she had just gotten home from burying her father on Sandy Lake First Nation in Ontario when Edwin went to the corner store to get some pop.

It was the last time she saw him.

"He never came back," said Colleen Harper.

Now, she said she's remembering her son as a caring, generous person who cared a lot about his friends.

"He would take care of them. Give them clothes to wear, a place to sleep," she said through tears. "He would help when he could."

There have been seven homicides in Winnipeg over the past three weeks.

The city has now reached 36 homicides in 2019 — the second-highest recorded in a calendar year, and there are still two months to go.
   
The investigation into the deaths of Harper and Palidwor is ongoing and police are asking anyone with information that may help investigators to call 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).