A 15-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Winnipeg woman Danielle Dawn Ballantyne, 36. A Canada-wide warrant was issued for the second youth. Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Dani McKinnon said at a press conference Thursday that he is also a teenager, but did not reveal his specific age. “I have to be very careful about what I can share,” she said, adding that “there’s always the risk that a suspect might get away.” Both teenagers have also been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on two men earlier that morning. The common link in all three incidents is the suspects, McKinnon said. “This is terrible and not the answer I want to give you, but it appears that all of these incidents are random attacks,” he said. “What I would say is what we would say every day, not just specifically for this series of events — although it’s certainly increased a lot of community members and citizens — if you don’t need to be out in dark areas for whatever reason, don’t are you.” He advised people to go to a safe place and call the police if they see any suspicious or violent activity.
Series of attacks
Ballantyne was found dead around 7 a.m. Monday in an apartment building on Jarvis Avenue, near Main Street. In the hour and a half before that, officers were also called to three different crime scenes in the surrounding area. Around 4:30 a.m., officers found a man in his 50s with traumatic injuries in a parking lot on Main between Jarvis and Sutherland avenues, about a half-block from the homicide scene. About 30 minutes later, another injured man in his 50s was found by police in an alley two blocks south on Main Street near the Bell Hotel. Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Dani McKinnon released more details Thursday about a series of assaults and a homicide that happened Monday morning. (World News) Teenagers have been charged in connection with these attacks. Both victims remained in critical condition Thursday, McKinnon said. He added that police believe there may be other people connected to the first attack and reiterated that police have evidence to suggest there may be other victims of Monday morning’s attacks who have not spoken to police.
No suspects were located in the 3rd attack
The third attack was reported around 5:30 that morning, when an injured man in his 50s flagged down officers in the nearby area of Logan Avenue and Disraeli Highway. He told police he was assaulted and taken to hospital in stable condition. That attack is still under investigation, McKinnon said. Police believe they are part of the earlier attack group, although “there is still some work to be done on who the suspects were,” he said. Police have not identified any suspects in the third attack, which was not as serious as the other two, but at this point the teenagers have not been identified as suspects, McKinnon said. He said he could not provide details on the type of injuries the victims had, but said none of the incidents have been identified as shootings. Police are asking anyone with information or who wants to speak with investigators to call the homicide unit at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477. Police said they are also working with community organizations that support families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people to provide a trauma-informed and culturally safe support network for Ballantyne’s family.
