4 people stabbed within 3 hours in Spence neighbourhood Thursday
Four people were taken to hospital after three stabbing incidents occurred within three hours in Winnipeg's Spence neighbourhood Thursday evening.
In the first incident, two women were stabbed on Furby Street, Winnipeg police say.
Police were called to Furby north of Portage Avenue just before 6 p.m. Thursday evening. They say a woman there was stabbed in the lower body. She remains in hospital in critical condition.
Police identified another woman with stab wounds to her upper body. She was treated in hospital and released.
Police have not said if they have anyone in custody in connection with those stabbings.
Const. Tammy Skrabek said Friday that homicide investigators are looking into the incident due to the victim's condition.
"In the event that something does change, homicide has taken over the investigation and will continue to look into it," she told reporters Friday morning.
Steve Solomon lives on Furby Street. He's been talking to police and his city councillor in an effort to get the area cleaned up because there are lots of children and families living in the area.
"It's very frustrating," he said. "You'd think that if you called the city councillor and there's children ... especially the children. That's why we bought this house. It's close to a playground."
Soloman said he called police, his city councillor and the province's Safer Communities program, which has the power to investigate complaints and evict people from problem homes, if need be.
Manitoba Justice said in a statement that the unit did launch an investigation at a property in the 400 block of Furby Street over the summer, but that the issues were deemed resolved and the file closed.
The unit does not have any active investigations in the same area, a spokesperson told CBC News in an email.
The city said bylaw officers have been to the property in the past, but that it does not have any open orders or investigations on the property in question.
2nd stabbing on Furby Street
Police were again called to Furby Street around 8:05 p.m. for an incident about a block north of the first. They found a 25-year-old man with stab wounds to the upper body. He was taken to hospital in critical condition, but has since been upgraded to stable.
Earlier that evening, a small group of people had gathered at a residence when an argument broke out between two people, police say. The situation escalated to the point where the victim was chased by the suspect and stabbed in the upper body.
The police service's helicopter and tactical support unit were called in and a suspect was found.
Police have charged a 21-year-old man with aggravated assault and two counts of failing to comply with a recognizance.
Balmoral Street stabbing
The third Thursday evening incident occurred a short time later on Balmoral Street near Sargent Avenue. Tactical unit members found a 26-year-old woman with stab wounds to her upper body.
Paramedics took her to hospital in unstable condition, and she was later upgraded to stable.
There is no word on any suspects in this incident.
Skrabek said that despite all three stabbings happening to close to each other in both time and location, it appears they are not connected.
"At this point, there's no information to suggest that any of these three are related," she said. "They appear to be all separate offences."
Soloman said that while he likes living in the area, he'd like to see some of the problem homes cleaned up, for everyone's sake.
"We love it here," he said. "What I don't want is for everyone to say, you know, that's another West End bad story."
Anyone with information about any of these incidents is asked to call investigators at 204-986-6219 or contact Crime Stoppers.
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