Woman's death after violent clash on William Avenue wasn't a homicide, police say
Elisha Dacey | CBC News | Posted: December 4, 2017 6:24 PM | Last Updated: December 4, 2017
While people were stabbed at home, woman's death not criminal, Const. Rob Carver says
Winnipeg police say the death of a woman last week was not a homicide, despite it happening during what appeared to be a violent family fight and a witness who said someone was stabbed.
Const. Rob Carver said police released information Friday about an incident that happened on the 400 block of William Avenue on Nov. 30. At the time, police called it a homicide, but an autopsy has shown the incident was not a crime, he said Monday.
CBC News reported Friday the incident was a "violent family clash" that spilled across a number of Winnipeg streets.
Officers were called to a two-storey rooming house on William Avenue, near Gertie Street, just after 6:30 p.m.
An unconscious woman was found and rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A man was also found, suffering from serious injuries. He was given first aid then sent to hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
A neighbour told CBC News it was a stabbing.
"It was a pretty big scrap. I don't know what they were scrapping about, but it turned into a very violent scene, where people were getting slammed around and things were getting thrown, things were getting smashed," Robert (Bear) Rodericks, an anti-gang advocate in the area who lives in the lower level of the rooming house, said after the death.
Carver said Monday some criminal charges were laid "from other things that had gone on in relation to that incident, but they're not part and parcel of this.
"We had some people who were stabbed. I would term the incident now an aggravated assault. A number of people were stabbed, a number of people were arrested."
Police said a woman, 18, was charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon, while a man, 20, was charged with assault.
Carver said the police service felt it was important to immediately clarify the status of the woman's death.
Police are under pressure to provide answers as soon as possible, Carver said, and called this situation a "key reason" why they sometimes delay releasing information about crimes.
The man who was taken to hospital in critical condition is now in stable condition, he said.