Police Shooting in Winnipeg: Man Dies After Encounter
WINNIPEG – May 18, 2025 – A man died on Friday after an encounter with Winnipeg police, who had responded to a call about a man acting erratically. The police chief confirmed the man, who was found armed with a screwdriver, was shot and later died of his injuries. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is now involved, underscoring the commitment to transparent and thorough investigations involving deadly force, protecting the community.
Manitoba’s police watchdog is investigating the death of a man who was shot by city police after he was found covered in blood and armed with a screw driver in a back alley in St. James Friday.
Gene Bowers, chief of the Winnipeg Police Service, hosted a rare weekend news conference on Saturday afternoon to share details about a fatal shooting that happened one night earlier.
One or more uniformed officers discharged a gun within five minutes of WPS receiving aa 911 call about a man who was acting erratically in the 200 block of Ferry Road, Bowers said.
Police tape surrounded 277 Ferry Rd. after a fatal shooting in the backyard of a residential house in St. James. (Maggie Macintosh / Free Press)
“Last night was a very difficult moment for our community,” he told reporters at WPS headquarters in downtown Winnipeg.
“Our hearts go out to the family who has lost a loved one, to the officers who were involved in a split-second decision that forever changed them.”
Bowers provided few details about the series of events, citing an ongoing probe by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.
All serious incidents involving on- and off-duty police officers in the province are referred to the IIU to investigate.
The police chief said West District patrol officers responded to a “suspicious call” about an unknown man who was covered in blood and appeared to be attempting to break into houses at 6:11 p.m. Friday.
Police located an adult male who fit that description and was armed with a screwdriver at 6:16 p.m., he said.
It was unclear Saturday whether the suspect was covered in his own blood or that of someone or something else’s.
Bowers said a “use-of-force encounter” occurred and the man was shot, after which the officers involved provided medical care before paramedics arrived and he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The man later died of his injuries.
“Our members are trained to react to a level of force in an appropriate way… In incidences where an officer is fearful of grievous bodily harm or death then potential deadly force is utilized,” Bowers said.
The officers are now on leave, as per the police service’s critical incident protocols, the police chief said, adding he has personally met with them to make sure they are getting the support they require.
WPS alerted the public oversight body of the events on Friday. The IIU did not immediately put out a news release.
The entirety of the 277 Ferry Rd. plot was taped off after the incident.
A woman who lives on the property told the Free Press she was inside her house when two gunshots rang out in her backyard-turned-crime scene.
The alley behind it and approximately a half-dozen other houses remained temporarily off-limits on Saturday.
The back alley of multiple residences along the eastern side of Ferry Rd. — including No. 277, where neighbours say a fatal shooting happened in the backyard — remained taped off on Saturday afternoon. (Maggie Macintosh / Free Press)
One affected homeowner recalled he went outside shortly after 6 p.m. Friday — minutes before he heard police yelling warnings, a taser and multiple gunshots a few doors down — to confront a man on his property.
His next-door neighbour called to let him know his basement window had been smashed up, said the 73-year-old who declined to provide his name for publication.
The retiree said he encountered a man with a handful of lawn ornaments, one of which belonged to him, and a box cutter. He said he yelled at the stranger to get off his lot.
“I don’t even remember what he said because he wasn’t speaking anything I understood. It was gibberish. He was wired up,” he said.
The senior noted his adult son also went outside to confront the suspect who they believed to have been about 30 years old.
The stranger tried to spray brake cleaning fluid at his son, he said, noting his son’s girlfriend called 911 and multiple police cars arrived on the scene in short order.
Another neighbour peeked outside amid all the commotion around dinnertime and asked one of numerous uniformed officers on the scene if it was safe to be in the area.
The senior, who lives alone with her pet bird, said she was told to return inside and lock her doors indefinitely.
“I couldn’t sleep last night. It was 3 a.m. and then I thought, ‘What am I doing? This will be as safe as I’ll ever be on Ferry Road because the place is crawling with cops,’” she added.
Bowers did not say whether the suspect is from Winnipeg or elsewhere. The IIU was in the process Saturday of identifying the man and his family, the police chief said.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
