WINNIPEG — A 16-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after being shot in the chest over the weekend in Windsor Park.
The girl is recovering in hospital after police say she was shot with a stolen RCMP gun in the upper body while sitting in a car.
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“We noticed these two guys throwing up gang signs at us,” Kailey Compton said, who was there that night. “One of my other friends said ‘he has a gun’.”
Compton said the teens all jumped into the car when the suspect approached, “He knocked on the window and he put the gun to the window and then he shot through the window.”
Police said Monday two suspects were charged for breaking into an off-duty RCMP members car in Southeast Winnipeg and stealing a firearm and camera equipment.
“The officers equipment belt including his firearm had been secured in the vehicle,” Winnipeg Police Deputy Chief Danny Smyth said.
The suspects then encountered the girl and a group of her friends at the Macs convenience store on Autumnwood Drive where a verbal altercation occurred.
Police said the suspects then walked up to the vehicle and pointed the gun at the youth and fired, hitting her. The suspects then fled.
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Compton said they quickly sped off but it wasn’t until a couple minutes later when the victim realized she had been shot.
“I’ve been shot, I’ve been hit,” Compton said her friend started screaming, “I’ve been shot.”
“She did nothing to deserve that,” her friend Colin Seguin said. “I was just worried I was going to lose her and never see her again.”
Seguin says the bullet pierced through her lung and was three centimetres away from her heart.
She was rushed to hospital where she remains but is expected to make a full recovery.
Police say they tracked one of the suspects to a home on Keenleyside Street on Sunday where there was a six hour stand off.
The RCMP weapon was found inside the home and 25-year-old Matthew Andrew Miles was arrested and charged with numerous weapons related charges, theft under $5,000 and mischief under $5,000.
22-year-old Matthew Wilfred McKay was also arrested and charged with attempted murder, a number of weapons related offences, theft under $5,000 and mischief under $5,000.
“This was a senseless and reckless actions of the suspects,” said Smyth, “I can’t explain them but I’m satisfied we restored public safety.”
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