Victim of stabbing at The Forks had just moved to Winnipeg from Ukraine
A Ukrainian refugee living in Winnipeg for two weeks was the victim of a Canada Day stabbing at The Forks.
Julya Zan and Jorge Torres decided to go for a late-night drive to The Forks on July 1 when they saw cars swerving around a waving pedestrian.
"And when we saw, we were like hey, this guy is actually bleeding. So we pulled over. We ran over to him, and we saw he said he'd been stabbed in the neck and we said, ‘Sit down and lie down,’" said Torres.
Torres tried to comfort the man, who had a knife still in his neck, while Zan called 911.
Zan, who speaks Ukrainian, then stepped in to help translate. The couple learned the victim and his friend were recent immigrants fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"July 1 was their two weeks in Manitoba, and they said today we have just found the apartment, and we moved downtown, and this is our first night out, which is going for a walk to The Forks to celebrate Canada Day," recalled Zan.
Zan said the victims explained that they were crossing the street when they bumped into another group. They attempted to turn around and apologize, but had trouble doing so because they didn’t speak the language.
They then said they saw one of the men pull out bear spray, and were subsequently assaulted.
In a call with CTV News, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed one man was stabbed and the other sprayed with bear mace. Officers said the investigation is ongoing.
On Sunday morning, Zan took the friend to see the other victim in hospital.
"They said that we can come to visit him after 9 a.m. in the morning, and we took the friend, picked him up from downtown, drove him to the emergency room at St. Boniface [Hospital]," said Zan.
According to Zan, the man that was stabbed is awake and undergoing treatment.
Zan said the Ukrainians are unsure where they will go or what they will do now, but feel it's unsafe here.
The couple is now calling on Winnipeggers to act more quickly to help others, and for something to be done about violent crime in the city.
"For me, the reason why I'm kind of upset is because it's just embarrassing to our city, you know, and the fact that it happened to these people," said Torres.
These assaults come after two violent incidents earlier in the week at The Forks.
Winnipeg police reported an attack in the parking lot on Monday night, resulting in the assault of a father and daughter.
A few days later, police said two men with stab wounds were found outside The Forks Market on Wednesday. A woman was also treated for minor injuries.
- With files from CTV's Kayla Rosen.
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