Winnipeg police say a man who was helping a woman who appeared to be suffering from an overdose was stabbed Tuesday evening. Around 9:15 p.m. in the area of Jubilee Avenue and Osborne Street, police said a 51-year-old man found a woman who was potentially suffering from an overdose. As he tried to help her, a man who knew the woman approached him and stabbed him, police said. The 51-year-old man was taken to hospital in unstable condition. The woman was also taken to the hospital. Just before 11 p.m., police found the suspect in the 400 block of Brandon Avenue. He allegedly tried to run away but was quickly arrested. Police said officers retrieved two knives as evidence. A 31-year-old man was charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon. He remains in custody and none of the charges have been tested in court. Winnipeg averages nearly three stabbings per day: Police data Winnipeg police said there’s been 81 stabbing incidents in the past 30 days. That includes Tuesday, when in the middle of the afternoon, a woman was seriously injured in the entrance area of Portage Place Mall and taken to hospital. Police said an arrest was made. Amanda Bear was across the street when it happened. “All I seen was a bunch of cops just pull up all of a sudden,” said Bear. Sheila Rowe also spends time in the area. She said she’s seen a lot of people who are angry and try to fight people. “It’s getting way worse, more beatings, more thefts, more stabbings,” said Rowe. And Friday afternoon, man in his 20s who uses a wheelchair was the victim of a random stabbing. It happened in a North End courtyard on Selkirk Avenue near Andrews Street. Advocate points to desperation Mitch Bourbonniere, with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, said Wednesday people are desperate. “We do have people out there that are in crisis are unsafe are feeling that they need to arm themselves,” said Bourbonniere. He says a lot of this is also fueled by drugs. “The micro level, the small-time street level drug dealing that’s going on is seeing a definite rise in violence and with edged weapons.” No change in knife-related violent crimes: Police data Annual statistics from the Winnipeg Police Service on knife related violent crimes illustrated there might not be an uptick in these crimes. The numbers showed there were 464 incidents to the end of May this year, a similar trend to the 1194 incidents last year. That is also down from a recent high of 1642 in 2023. Late last month, police did a ten-day crackdown on open drug use and trafficking. This week, Winnipeg Police Chief Gene Bowers said there will be some form of follow-up operation. “There’s a place for enforcement and there’s a place for harm reduction and it’s how do we do that together,” Bowers told reporters Tuesday.
