Man kills sister, injures 7 others

WINNIPEG — A 26-year-old man fatally stabbed his sister and injured seven others in a knife attack at a central Manitoba First Nation before dying in a crash that left an RCMP officer seriously hurt on Thursday.

RCMP officers went door-to-door in the aftermath at Hollow Water First Nation, about 185 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, to ensure there were no additional victims of the mass stabbing.

“What happened early (Thursday) morning is a tragedy for the community of Hollow Water First Nation and for all of Manitoba,” Scott McMurchy, Manitoba RCMP assistant commissioner, said at an afternoon news conference in Winnipeg.

RCMP said suspect Tyrone Simard, a Hollow Water resident, killed his 18-year-old sister and injured other victims, who were known to him, at two homes.

Police didn’t give a motive for the attack.

The Winnipeg Free Press spoke to multiple residents of the First Nation who identified the slain woman as Marina Simard.

Tyrone Simard was known to RCMP, who did not disclose his previous involvement with the law.

Major crimes Supt. Rob Lasson said a First Nation safety officer contacted RCMP at about 3:45 a.m. regarding an assault that happened 30 minutes earlier. The suspect fled, and paramedics were requested.

After being called to a possible stabbing at about 5:55 a.m., RCMP found several victims with stab wounds at a home in Hollow Water, located on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. Officers found more victims at a second home.

Lasson said eight stabbing victims, including the woman who died, ranged in age from 18 to 60.

After the attack, Simard fled south in a stolen vehicle and died in a collision with an oncoming police cruiser, RCMP said. The crash happened about 50 kilometres south of Hollow Water on Provincial Road 304.

Afterward, an RCMP sport utility vehicle with a crumpled front end was in one ditch, while a damaged vehicle was in the ditch on the other side of the highway.

Lasson said the officer in the police SUV was responding to the call at the time. Police credited the officer with stopping the threat. The officer — the ninth person killed or injured in the incident — was taken to hospital with critical but non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to make a full recovery.

McMurchy said RCMP are still determining all of the details of what happened at the scenes. Police said there was no further risk to public safety.

Christy Williams and Jordan Hamilton learned through a Facebook post their father, Michael Raven, was among those stabbed.

“We were just informed that he was stabbed several times” and suffered a punctured lung, Hamilton said outside HSC. “He’s OK. He’s talking.”

Williams said Raven was taken in for a CT scan.

“He was hit in the head with a bottle a couple of times,” she said, adding one of the stab wounds that punctured his lung was through his back.

Williams said she was told there was a dispute involving the suspect before the attack. That person left but returned while her father was asleep and kicked down his door, she was told.

Hamilton noted he did not know the suspect.

Williams said the incident will have a large impact on the First Nation.

“The community is all shaken up,” she said. “This is scary for everybody in Hollow Water. This incident doesn’t sum up Hollow Water.”

Residents showed the Free Press screenshots of Facebook messages that they say were posted by the mother of the woman who died and the suspect.

The author of the posts asked “any first responders” to come to her address because three people were stabbed and one was unresponsive.

“We need help,” she wrote. The woman later wrote that she was about to undergo emergency surgery.

Lasson wasn’t aware if anyone had difficulty contacting emergency services during the incident.

Hollow Water Chief Larry Barker wiped away tears after he told reporters the affected families are very close to him.

“I ask the community to continue to pray for them, for their recovery,” Barker said at the news conference. He said he planned to visit the survivors in hospital.

Crisis response teams visited Hollow Water. The community’s school was closed for the day.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, the province’s civilian police watchdog, is investigating, which is standard when a serious incident or death involves an officer, RCMP said.

The attack and crash prompted a large response from emergency services and hospital staff.

Shared Health chief medical officer Dr. Rob Grierson said six ground ambulances and two STARS air ambulances responded to the scenes.

Two critically injured patients were airlifted to HSC by STARS. Ground ambulances transported one critically injured victim and four unstable victims to HSC.

One victim was in stable condition at Selkirk Regional Health Centre.

HSC chief operating officer Dr. Shawn Young confirmed the hospital declared a “code orange” alert at about 8:15 a.m. to mobilize staff and prepare operating rooms for the sudden arrival of multiple patients.

One patient was out of surgery and stable, while a second victim was in an operating room during Thursday afternoon’s news conference, Young said.

Hollow Water residents expressed horror as they learned details about the attack and crash.

“We’re all in shock and traumatized,” resident Evelyn Kennedy said. “Everybody knows everybody (here).”

The incidents happened on the third anniversary of a mass stabbing that killed 11 people and injured 17 in James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, in Saskatchewan.

Lasson said the timing of Thursday’s attack in Manitoba was a coincidence.

» Winnipeg Free Press