Police say bus stabbing may be hate crime
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/02/2024 (581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg Transit bus passenger was stabbed Tuesday — on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the murder of a bus driver and just days away from the implementation of onboard security officers.
City police said a man in his twenties had to be treated by emergency workers (who used a chest seal) before being rushed to hospital in critical condition. The man has since been upgraded to stable condition, officials said.
Police spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said the man was stabbed on a bus at the Osborne Rapid Transit Station at about 6:45 p.m. She said a male suspect was still being sought.
“The major crimes unit is working on it,” McKinnon said, adding racial slurs were voiced before the attack. “The victim is of colour, so (the comments) were racial in nature … It has been forwarded to the hate crimes section.”
Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, which represents more than 1,400 employees at Winnipeg Transit and Brandon Transit, said word of the stabbing hit members hard.
“It kind of stopped all of our breaths here,” Scott said. “(Wednesday) is the seventh anniversary of the tragic passing of Irvine Jubal Fraser and the day before, we get an alert of a stabbing on a bus.
“The (Transit) safety officers can’t come soon enough.”
Fraser, 58, died after being stabbed by Brian Kyle Thomas in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2017. In 2019, Thomas was convicted of second-degree murder, with no application for parole for at least 12 years.
The hiring and training of 24 Transit safety officers was a pledge made by Mayor Scott Gillingham at last year’s state of the city speech, in part to address violence against bus drivers and passengers.
A spokesman for the mayor said Wednesday the safety officers are set to begin next week.
There were more than “250 safety incidents involving Transit and our members” in 2023, Scott said Wednesday.
» Winnipeg Free Press