Winnipeg homicide record broken with 42nd killing in a year

Winnipeg has broken its record for the most homicides in ayear, with twoweeks left in 2019.

Police announced on Wednesdaythe 42nd homicide was recorded on Oct. 31, a disheartening statistic in a city dealing with a number of random killings andshooting deaths.

"It certainly is remarkable," criminologistFrank Cormiersaid. "It's hard not to notice something like that."

The new record was set afterpolice deemed ahouse fire on Pritchard Avenue, between Andrews and Powers street, as a homicide. A 23-year-old woman ischarged with second-degree murder.

For months, Winnipeg appeared destined toeventually pass the homicide record of 41 set in 2011. The city sawmore killingsby June this year than it did in allof 2018, when there were 22.

Manyof theslayings this year havedeeply disturbed Winnipeggers:

• A three-year-old boy was stabbed to death in his sleep.
• A high school studentwas killed while at home with his grandmother.
• A 14-year-old girl was stabbed to death at a house party.
• A man was knocked dead by a single punch.
• There have been restaurantshootouts, forcing customers to flee in terror attwo establishments.
• There werethree homicides in a single night on the Halloween weekend.

Police sayit was "unprecedented" when 11 homicides happened over 30 days in the fall.The total is now 12 homicides due tothe Oct. 31 arson.

On the front lines, Winnipeg police say they'reunder siege. Theyreassigned 74 police officerstotemporarily handle a homicide caseload that becameinsurmountable without the extra resources.

'Profound impact'

"Every homicide brings a grieving family, an impact on the community and a significant amount of work,"police spokesperson Const. Jay Murray saidlast month.

"Just a single homicide can have a profound impact on the community. It's awful."

Police say no"underlying theme" is driving the number of killings, but"there's certainly a numberof social issues that have contributed to the homicide count this year, including alcohol and drug use," Murraysaid at a news conference on Wednesday.

"We've also seen a disproportionate number of homicides that involve gun violence or methamphetamine use."

In 2011, the previous record year, a turf war between two outlawmotorcycle gangs caused much of the mayhem, and the number was driven up when five people died ina rooming housefire that was deliberately set.

But within two years, Winnipeg's average homicide total dropped to nearly half that, "and we were never asked why that was," Murray said.

Of the42homicides this year, 36 weremen or boysand sixare women or girls; four were under age 18.

A shooting was confirmed in 16 of the deaths, while10 people died after being assaulted and 10 were stabbed. There were just three gun homicides in all of 2018.

Winnipeg police have laid charges against a total of 43people in 33of the homicides. Seven of those charged are youth who cannot be named.

Cormier,a criminology professor at the University of Manitoba,saidoneyear of alarming violence does not mean this is thenew normal.

"It's really important that we don't only concentrate on the remarkable [year], because the remarkable by its very definition is unusual, and it's not what we should expect to happen in the future," he said.

From 2007 to 2016, Winnipeg averaged29 homicides per year, Statistics Canada says.

The agency says Thunder Bay, Ont.,recorded the highest homicide rate in the country in 2018 6.38 murders per 100,000 people. Winnipeg's rate was 2.69 per 100,000 people last year, which is bound to increase this year.

More attention should be focused on the long-term trends of violence, Cormier said.

Though there has been a recent spike in violent crime, the violent crime severity index, as calculated by Statistics Canada, was lower in 2018 than it was a decade or two earlier.

"Weshould always have a certain level of concern or caring about crime and particularly violent crime," Cormier said.

"We need to balance that out with a recognition that still our [violence] rates are significantly lower than they were 20 years ago."

Winnipeg is still a safe place for the average citizen, as long as people stay away from a lifestyleprone to violence, he said. The vast majority of homicides happen between people who already know each other, he said.

Broader problem

Winnipeg is dealing with mounting homicides as it grapples withrising violentproperty crimefuelledpartially by methamphetamine use.

The growing violenceof all kinds is a symptom of poverty, saidBronwyn Dobchuk-Land, assistant professor in criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg.

Social services are suffering, welfare amounts are insufficient and well-paying jobs are lacking, she said.

"Ifthis increasing homicide rate can get us to take seriously some of the broader conditions of violence and stress that people are living under, then I guess we can talk about the homicide rate," she said.

Whilethe number of homicides is unnerving, Dobchuk-Land said the fluctuating total isn't the only indicator thecity needs help.

Disadvantaged people have struggled in Winnipeg for a long time, andmore policing isn't the answer, Dobchuk-Land said.

"I think people have been suffering in Winnipeg and their suffering has been heightened in the past few years."