Winnipeg police are investigating after several children were watched and even chased by suspicious men in different areas of the city over the past couple of days.
The first incident happened on Wednesday when the owner of a St. Vital home daycare says an elderly-looking man tried to get into the backyard, saying he wanted to “keep the children company.”
Daycare owner Jackie Mighty was sitting in the back yard holding a child when she saw a hand reaching over the fence. Mighty then saw the face of a stranger peering into her backyard, calling out to the children.
“So I look up and I said, ‘Excuse me, please keep going. We don't need you here. We didn't call you. We don't know you. Please keep moving,’” said Mighty.
The man wouldn't go away, so Mighty concocted a plan to scare him off. “So I said, ‘You see that man on the roof over there? He's my oldest brother. Do you want me to call him?’”
The stranger still didn’t leave, so Mighty called out to the unsuspecting roofer next door to come help. “That guy, he came off the roof so fast, came around, opened my back gate, and said to him, ‘What are you doing here? These are kids, you shouldn't be here.’”
The roofer managed to scare the creep away, but Mighty called police anyway. With the man gone, the roofer went back to work and Mighty and the kids went back to playing. But 10 minutes later, the stranger returned and was standing in the back lane, once again calling to get into the yard.
Mighty immediately took the kids inside and called 911 a second time.
Three-year-old Zimram Akpabio remembers it clearly, but he said he wasn't scared. “Jackie called the police for the bad guy,” he said.
“Everything was in control and they were here and went around looking for the guy,” said parent Dorcas Akpabio. “I saw them, I saw the police. I was very impressed.”
Mighty was impressed with the kids, who she said recognized the danger and kept their cool.
Police describe the suspect as white, 60 to 70 years old, medium build, short grey hair, wearing glasses, a grey T-shirt, khaki shorts, grey socks, runners, watch and a ring.
Mighty said the man was well-dressed and didn't look out of place. She believes he could be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's disease.
Suspicious men watch, chase children in 2 other incidents
Police are searching for two other suspects in similar but separate incidents on Thursday. Staff at Neil Campbell School in East Kildonan reported that students had seen an unknown man hanging out across the street. He didn’t approach the students or say anything, and was last seen running away from the area.
Police describe the suspect as wearing a black balaclava with blonde, shoulder-length hair sticking out the bottom, wearing a black hoodie or jacket, black pants and runners.
The same day, at around 4:00 p.m. an unknown man chased three girls in the area of Beeston Drive and Seaforth Avenue. The girls, aged 9 and 10, ran into a 9-year-old boy and started telling him what happened when the man reappeared and started chasing them again. The children ran away and one of the kids’ parents called police.
Police describe the suspect as white, possibly tanned, in his early 20s, average height with a small build, long black hair and a dark beard. He wore a blue, long-sleeve shirt, light-coloured pants and carried a white backpack.
- With a report by Caroline Barghout
