'It was a bit shocking': Arsonists lob Molotov cocktails at 2 North End homes
Winnipeg police are on the hunt for suspects after two family homes in Luxton were set ablaze in recent days.
Emergency crews went to a home on Polson Avenue on June 21 after reports of a fire. On Monday, firefighters again responded to an arson call, this time just a few blocks away at Judy Wasylycia-Leis' home on Bannerman Avenue.
"It was a bit shocking," said Wasylycia-Leis, a former Winnipeg mayoral candidate, NDP member of Parliament and cabinet minister for then-Manitoba premier Howard Pawley in the 1980s.
Wasylycia-Leis' son, Joe Wasylycia-Leis, awoke at about 1 a.m. CT to see flames outside the front door, not far from his bedroom.
"I saw large orange flames lapping at the window and could here a sort of 'Woosh, woosh' sound — knew it was a fire," he said, adding he expected the first floor of the home to be on fire from the "fire bomb."
"He said, 'Get up! Get up!'" Judy Wasylycia-Leis said. "I thought he was having a nightmare, but we came downstairs and saw the flames."
Joe Wasylycia-Leis and his father used a garden hose to douse the flames that were "mounting up the side of the house," along an overhang above the front door and through a couple of bushes.
"Really thankful that I woke up and was able to get out there, because it could've gone south pretty quickly," he said.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis initially suspected the source of the fire was a gas leak of some kind, but she said police found broken beer bottles and rags at the scene, suggesting someone threw Molotov cocktails at their home.
"I had no idea it would be a crime of this nature," said Wasylycia-Leis, adding she thinks the attack was random. "We're very, very grateful that there was nothing more than some minor exterior damage."
Both fires were started intentionally in the early morning, Winnipeg police Const. Rob Carver said. Neither home was seriously damaged.
It isn't known whether anyone was injured in the other fire.
The Winnipeg police major crimes unit continues to investigate.
Correction : Polson and Bannerman avenues are in the Luxton neighbourhood, not North Point Douglas as was originally reported.(Jun 27, 2017 1:41 PM)
