Winnipeg police have confirmed the suspicious death of a woman in Point Douglas Monday is now considered homicide.
Thirty-six-year-old Danielle Dawn Ballantyne has been identified as the victim of the death that took place in an apartment building at Jarvis Avenue and Main Street in the early hours of Monday morning.
Her death is being investigated along with a trio of violent assaults that took place in the same vicinity, within the same hour.
Police say the assaults are believed to be related, but are not saying if the homicide is connected.
The first assault took place around 4:30 a.m., when officers found a man with serious injuries in a parking lot in the 800 block of Main Street. He was taken to hospital in critical condition where he remains.
At around 5 a.m., officers found an injured man in the 600 block of Main Street and he was taken to hospital in unstable condition.
And then at around 5:30 a.m., police in the area of Logan Avenue and the Disraeli Freeway found an injured man who said he’d been assaulted. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.
Police believe there could be other victims. No arrests have been made and anyone with information is asked to call the Major Crimes Unit at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.
Sue Caribou has lived in the Point Douglas neighbourhood for 10 years. Now, she triple-locks her front door as she says crime has skyrocketed.
“When I get home, I stay home, I don’t want to go out,” Caribou says.
Carobou has been an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. She lives in the apartment block next to where the homicide took place.
“When I woke up (I) seen all the yellow tape, all the police cars,” she says. “It’s been a daily thing now; the crime here right now has gone sky-high.”
A missing sense of community can be a factor in rising crime rates, according to one expert.
“Supporting communities to be able to interact with each other to have either recreation or community events where people can come together, as opposed to really what law and order creates is a solution that divides people,” says Kelly Gorkoff an associate professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Winnipeg.