Man charged in 6 downtown stabbings accused of more attacks

A 21-year-old Winnipeg man accused of stabbing six people in the Exchange District has been charged with two more assaults.

There weretwo more people attacked on Jan. 30, meaning on the day before the accused was arrested, five people were assaulted in just one evening, police said.

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The new charges are connected to an assault at 7:40 p.m. on Jan. 30, whena man was stabbed in an unprovoked attack on Portage Avenue, police said. Then at 9:30 p.m., another man was attacked on Donald Street, butthe victim fought off the attacker, police said.

The accused was re-arrested while in custody.

With the new charges two counts of assault with a weapon the man now has been accused of attacking eight people downtown over a three-week period in January.

Most of the attacks were not motivated by robbery, although in some of the cases a cellphone was stolen, said Const. Rob Carver, a Winnipeg police public information officer.

"They were just unprovoked attacks completely random," he said. "All of the attacks were unprovoked."

They are the kind of incidents that make people concerned for their safety downtown, butthey are also the type of attacks that could happen anywhere, Carver said.

"I don't think this is a comment on the safety of downtown," he said. "This is the sort of thing that can randomly occur."

Carver said he was unaware whether there is a mental health issue involved.

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