A Winnipeg man convicted of second-degree murder in Montreal nearly four decades ago hopes federal funding for Manitoba’s guns and gangs suppression strategy will help reduce violence.
Tau-Anka Croxen said he got involved with the wrong crowd when he was a teenager, which ultimately led him to committing a murder he regrets.
“When I was 21-years-old I walked into a bank with the intention of robbing the bank,” he said. “During the commission of my crime a bank teller was shot and killed.”
It was in December of 1981 when Croxen shot the bank teller, fled and was later picked up by police in Montreal.
Croxen said he didn’t mean to pull the trigger. He said he didn’t realize how sensitive the gun was while he kept a tight grip.
“That was the first and only crime I ever committed with a gun,” he said.
Croxen spent nearly 30 years behind bars.
He moved to Winnipeg in 2011 and works at a mechanic shop while on parole.
Croxen noted the rise in gun violence in the neighborhood, after witnessing more than one standoff with police in recent months.
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On Friday, the federal government announced it is giving Manitoba more than $2.3 million over the next two years as part of a strategy to address gun and gang violence in the province.
Croxen doesn’t believe guns and gangs will ever disappear, but he hopes the money will help to make a dent.
“Even if they stop one or two guns for $2 million, it’s more than enough,” he said.
Insp. Max Waddell of the Organized Crime Unit said the money will go a long way in helping Winnipeg police hire more staff and purchase new equipment.
“We need to keep up with the demand because we do seize a lot of firearms in the City of Winnipeg and over the last three years we’ve seen that significant increase every single year.”
For example, Waddell said the service will be able to purchase an Integrated Ballistic Identification System.
“We will be able to take firearm shell casings after a gun has been discharged, put the bullet into this machine and it will be able to tell us within a short period of time if there’s a match with another firearm that could have been used in the commission of an offence.”
As for anyone messing with guns these days, Croxen hopes they decide to put them down.
“Drop it, get rid of it because you use it once, it’s your life. You’re giving up all your freedom, you’re giving up everything.”
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