No 'trend or pattern' to 3 Pleasant Hill homicides in 1 week, Saskatoon police chief says

A 52-year-old woman's death in Saskatoon last week was the city's eighth homicide of the year and the third to take place over one week in the Pleasant Hill area, according to the Saskatoon Police Service.

The three recent homicides don't seem to be related, Police Chief Troy Cooper said at a press conference Monday.

"The motives for offending, the victimization, the age of victims or suspects, etc. — we can't find any links to each other and so it's difficult for us difficult for us to say, 'Well here is a trend or pattern around homicide and here's our response to it," Cooper said.

They are not random acts of violence, he stressed.

While hesitant to comment on the specifics of active investigations, Cooper said, "There are different motives or different offending patterns in all three."

Increased police presence

Cooper said the lack of connection applies to all eight homicides in the city this year (not nine homicides, as earlier reported by police).

"Some are obviously gang related and some are obviously related to addictions and other causes like that. But there is no clear trend or pattern to any of the offending this year," Cooper said.  

Still, the police service will increase its presence in the Pleasant Hill area by adding more uniformed patrol officers and plainclothes members for a least a month, or until people feel safe again, Cooper said. 

They'll be there to monitor any gang activity, Cooper said.

"More importantly we want people to know that we care. We want people to know that we're there. We're available to them. And then if they have concerns or see anything suspicious, they're certainly able to reach out and contact some of the officers that'll be there."

Latest homicide victim unidentified 

Police have not identified the woman whose body was found Friday in an apartment on the 200 block of Avenue V S on Friday.  Officers were called to the area to check on the wellness of a person at around 4:30 p.m. CST.

Police initially deemed the death suspicious.

An autopsy is scheduled to happen Wednesday.

Police said investigators don't believe the death is connected to another homicide that happened last Friday only four blocks away. Maurice Arriagada was found injured in a home on Avenue T S. He later died in hospital. 

• Family identify Maurice Arriagada as Saskatoon's 8th homicide victim of the year

Police have not named or arrested a suspect in either the 52-year-old woman or Arriagada's homicide.

The woman was the third homicide victim in the city's Pleasant Hill neighbourhood within the same week. Xavier Jimmy, 21, is charged with second-degree murder in death of Gabriel Wapass, 47. 

• Victim's family fills courtroom for Xavier Justice Jimmy's first appearance on murder charge

There are 20 major crimes investigators probing the year's homicides. 

Cooper said there have been some positive signs of crime reduction city-wide. The number of armed robberies is down from the same point last year, for example.