Marvin William Felix was taken to hospital in critical condition after being attacked early that morning. Felix was one of three men attacked within an hour in the area. Police said they found the 54-year-old with traumatic injuries in a parking lot on Main Street near the Bell Hotel around 5 a.m. Monday. Felix, who his family says has been using a wheelchair since his leg was amputated, was taken off life support Thursday night. “He was a good person. And he was in a wheelchair — I don’t know why anyone would do that to him,” Bittern said in Winnipeg on Friday, where she and her husband, Darcy, had traveled from their home in Berens. River First Nation after learning of the attack. Darcy Bittern, left, and Cecile Bittern say they still can’t believe what happened to Cecile’s brother Marvin. (Jason Empson/CBC) The body of 36-year-old Danielle Dawn Ballantyne was also discovered later Monday morning in an apartment building near where Felix and the other injured were found. Two 15-year-old boys have been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Ballantyne and Felix, police said. The teenagers are also charged with aggravated assault in one of the other attacks on Monday morning. A teenager was arrested Wednesday, while a Canada-wide warrant was issued for the second suspect, who Police were still searching as of Friday afternoon.
Serious injuries
Felix was originally from Berens River, a community about 275 kilometers north of Winnipeg, but was living in the city for medical reasons, his family said. Tyna Flett said her family is still in shock about what happened to her uncle. She remembers him as someone who was always cracking jokes and helping people whenever he could. When he lived on the Berens River, he often spent time helping out with ice fishing in the community, he said. “What happened to him is unbelievable… There are a lot of questions. Anger. Sadness,” Flett said. “He was a good man. He worked with a lot of people. He helped a lot of people. He had a lot of friends that he did things with – fishing, those little jobs. He would be a right hand man.” Felix’s niece, Tyna Flett, says there are many questions after his death, as well as anger and grief. (Jason Empson/CBC) Marva George, another of Felix’s sisters, said doctors told her family he had suffered damage to his spine, ribs, hips and legs after the beating on Monday. He also had injuries to his face and a brain injury that eventually led them to take him off life support. “The doctor told us his brain was injured and…he [would] not be the same if he recovered,” George said by phone Friday. “We didn’t want him on life support [machine] because that was his will… If something happened to him, he didn’t want to be connected to the machine.” George said he has fond memories of her brother since they were growing up in the Berens River and their parents taught them how to survive on the land. “When he got older, he started fishing with my dad, trapping, hunting,” he said. “Our parents taught us a lot [about] that, how to live – how to live in the bush to support ourselves.’
“No one is safe, I guess”
Flett, who lives in the Berens River but was already in Winnipeg at the time of the attacks, said her uncle regularly made his rounds in the area where she lived, sometimes stopping at homeless shelters like Mission Siloam and the Salvation Army when he needed help . Now, the deadly attack has her questioning how safe the city is. “Winnipeg is getting out of control. And nobody’s safe, I guess, anymore. Especially with them in the wheelchair,” Flett said. Felix’s brother-in-law Darcy Bittern said the loss of such a good friend and relative is widely felt. “He had a lot of friends out there who loved him. And he always had his humor on his friends. He was always joking around with his friends and family, even his nieces and nephews,” she said. “They would treat him like a big brother or something.” Felix is mourned by his many friends and relatives. “No one will ever hurt him again,” his niece said. (Submitted by the Felix family) Felix’s family say that once his body is released after an autopsy and investigation, they plan to bring him back home for a funeral in the Berens River. His parents are buried there and he often wished to return there, they said. While the family is still reeling from the last few days, Flett said she is glad her uncle is no longer in pain. “I’ll just say she’s in a better place now – no more suffering,” he said. “And no one will ever hurt him again.”
