'It's crazy': Woman speaks out after unprovoked attack on Winnipeg bus

A woman is speaking out after an assault on a Winnipeg Transit bus sent her and her daughter to the hospital.

“You shouldn’t be scared to leave your house and go on the bus,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.

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The incident took place on Monday evening on a bus in the area of Portage Avenue and Valour Road.

According to the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS), three suspects got on the bus and got into an unprovoked argument with the victims. Police said the argument escalated and ended with the woman, 40, and her daughter, 16, being attacked with an edged weapon.

The suspects, who also robbed the victims of their personal belongings, fled the area before police got to the scene.

The woman and her daughter were taken to the hospital where they were treated and released.

“It happened so fast, like she started hitting me…but then I heard my daughter say, ‘Mom, she’s stabbing [you],’” the woman said, noting the attack started with a slash to her abdomen.

“So then I looked and I noticed she had like a little box cutter around. So I tried to stop her from that and then she came and lunged at me and she slit my throat, well tried to.”

The victim explained that the suspect’s attempt to slash her throat was unsuccessful as the box cutter’s blade retracted.

She said her daughter then tried to intervene, but the suspect started attacking the 16-year-old, punching and stabbing her.

The woman said when she attempted to stop the attack on her daughter, the suspect slashed the 40-year-old woman’s chest, resulting in her needing 11 stitches.

She noted that no one on the bus attempted to help them.

“No one did anything,” she said. "They just watched.”

The woman said it’s important for her to get this story out there and hopefully get the suspect arrested.

“It’s crazy. She was trying to murder me on the bus, for no reason,” she said.

“Like we did nothing to her. She just came and attacked us.”

The Major Crimes Unit is now investigating and has released information on the suspects.

Police said the suspect carrying the weapon was an Indigenous woman in her late 20s, who is about five-foot-one, with a medium build. Police also noted she was wearing glasses.

The other two suspects were female youths wearing dark clothing.

No arrests have been made.

- With files from CTV’s Daniel Halmarson.