Partygoers at a popular Corydon Avenue bar were unhurt, but shaken up after a shooter fired into the establishment early Saturday morning.
Witnesses told Global News a man was being escorted out of Bar Italia by security staff shortly after midnight, and repeatedly tried to get back inside.
As bouncers held their ground, witnesses then reported seeing the man on his phone.
Moments later, roughly a half-dozen shots rang out in the busy nightclub, shattering a front window.
“It was so loud in there,” witness Shawn Eisler told 680 CJOB. “Then everyone hit the deck and tried to find some cover.”
“I had no idea what was going on until I saw (my friend) running towards me with sheer panic on his face.”
“(The friend) told us they were shooting in our direction.”
Fellow bar-goer Carson Ransom was standing beside Eisler when the attack took place.
“I was at the bar getting drinks, and all of a sudden (our friend) came up to us and said there were shots fired,” he explained.
“We went to the VLT area and hid for a minute,” Ransom recalled. “Everyone was hiding behind tables, and I looked around the corner and there were lights.”
Ransom says more than a dozen Winnipeg Police Service officers were on scene just a couple of minutes after the shooting.
By that time, the alleged assailant had made his way inside the bar.
“(Officers) wrestled him to the ground and cuffed him.”
Eisler said the quick response from officers helped reassure the shocked crowd.
“They kept us there for probably 45 minutes, taking down everyone’s information before letting us go.”
Police have yet to answer nearly a dozen calls from Global News, asking for confirmation of the arrest.
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