12-year-old boy dies following altercation between two groups Friday evening: police
Winnipeg police are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was stabbed Friday evening and later died from his injuries.
Police said officers were called to the 200 block of Burrows Avenue around 7:19 p.m. on June 18 for reports that a male had been stabbed.
When crews arrived, they found a youth had been injured and was being helped by an off-duty nurse.
Police said the boy, who is from Winnipeg, was taken to hospital but died from his injuries.
The homicide unit is currently investigating and police believe the boy was stabbed after two groups were involved in an altercation.
Cst. Jay Murray said the boy was involved in the altercation and added it isn't believed that this incident was gang related.
He said homicides involving youths are very rare.
"Last year we had three homicides that involved young children under the age of three, is my understanding. I don't believe we had any middle-aged youth that were victims of homicide last year," said Murray. "Incidents like this absolutely shock the community."
Murray said police aren't able to share a lot of information as it is still early in the investigation, but noted there are a lot of "troubling" details related to the incident.
If anyone has information, they are asked to call police at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.
POLICE SEEING A RISE IN VIOLENCE
Murray said Winnipeg police resources have been taxed over the last month as this has been the 11th homicide since May 19 and the fourth since June 14.
"Each homicide requires a significant workload of resources, whether it is our homicide unit, our forensic identification section members, or the frontline officers that respond to these calls in the first place," he said.
"It has been a very busy past month for us. We certainly don't know what the future brings, but nonetheless, it is concerning to see numbers rising again in terms of violence and homicide."
Murray also touched on the impacts homicides can have on the officers involved in these investigations, especially when it involves children.
"I think at times we forget the role of first responders that deal with incidents like this… I think it is extremely tough, a lot of people that help in these cases are parents themselves, maybe parents with children that age."
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