Winnipeg police charge 32-year-old man in mass shooting that killed 4

Winnipeg police have arrested and charged a 32-year-old man with second-degree murder in connection with themass shooting that left four people dead early Sunday morning in the city's West Broadway neighbourhood, a news release says.

Jamie Randy Felix is charged with four counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, a police news release says.

He was arrested at 6:30 a.m. Friday at a home on Fernwood Avenue,Insp. Jennifer McKinnon said at a news conference shortly after 10 a.m.the same day.

A large police presence was seen in the area of Fernwood Avenue and St. Anne's Road, in the city's St. Vital area, early Friday morning, including a tactical unit vehicle.

At Friday's news conference, police said Felix had only been in custody for a few hours and they could not say if he knew the victims or why he was at the LangsideStreet home where Sunday's mass shooting happened.

"That's forming part of our investigation now," said Sgt. Wade MacDonald of the homicide unit.

Investigators will executea number of a search warrants Friday, MacDonald said.

Crystal Shannon Beardy, 34, Stephanie Amanda Beardy, 33, Melelek Leseri Lesikel, 29, and Dylan Maxwell Lavallee, 41, died after being shot in a unit of a multi-suite dwelling on Langside Street early Sunday morning.

Crystal Beardy and one of the men were pronounced dead at the scene. Three otherpeople were rushed to hospital in critical condition, where another man and Stephanie Beardy died.

A 55-year-old man who was also shot is still in hospital in critical condition, police said Friday.

Felix's twin brother,Johnathen James Felix, was murdered in 2012.

Felix told CBC Radio's Now or Never in 2020 that he struggled with addictions following his brother's death but had managed to find help through a support group for young men.

"It was really tough and I didn't know how to manage with it," he said in the 2020 interview.

He also described growing up in a "toxic" environment, where those around him were abusing drugs and alcohol. He turned to fitness to avoid "going back to that lifestyle I tried to get away from my entire life," he said.

Victims remembered

Crystal and Stephanie Beardy were sisters, their mother, Beverley Beardy, confirmed to CBC News earlier this week.

The sisters were members ofLake St. Martin First Nation. Crystal was a mother of two boys and was living in Winnipeg, while Stephanie,a mother of two girls, was visiting the city from Lake St. Martin, their aunt Roberta Owen said at a vigil for the siblings in Winnipeg's North End on Tuesday night.

She described her nieces as jokesters who were happy spirited, which is how she wants them to be remembered.

Dylan Lavallee's sister saidher brotherwas also a parent, and she will remember him as someone who put others first.

"He had the biggest heart. He was so kind,"Eve Lavalleesaid in an interview with CBCNews earlier this week.

"He always puts me and his mother in front of everyone else."

The youngest of the four victims,Melelek Leseri Lesikel, 29, hadfamily in the United States and Kenya.

Watch the full Friday news conference below:

Winnipeg police make arrest in West Broadway mass shooting

11 months ago

Duration 9:51

Winnipeg police announce an arrest in the case of a mass shooting in West Broadway last weekend that left four people dead. Another remains injured in hospital.

Man charged in Winnipeg rooming house shootings

11 months ago

Duration 2:08

A man accused of fatally shooting four people in Winnipeg's West Broadway neighbourhood last weekend was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for 11 years, a court heard earlier this year. Jamie Randy Felix was arrested early Friday morning and charged with four counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.