Police are looking for a suspect as they continue to investigate a fatal stabbing in the downtown on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday afternoon, Peterborough Police Service Chief Stuart Betts held a media conference to provide an update on the investigation into the city’s second homicide of 2023.
Betts said around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a call from a citizen regarding a man in his 20s who had been injured in the area of George and Charlotte streets.
Emergency officials were seen treating a man in front of Maple Moose Pub on George Street North.
The police chief said the victim was suffering from a stab wound and was taken to Peterborough Regional Health Centre where he later died of his injuries.
The victim’s identity has yet to be released, pending next-of-kin notification, Betts said.
Betts, standing at the corner Simcoe and George streets, said the assault “occurred on the sidewalk in the area behind me.”
He said the incident was caught on video from the recently installed close-circuit television cameras in the downtown core. The 12 cameras were operational on July 31.
“We want the public to know, in case there was any doubt about the efficacy of our CCTV cameras, that these cameras caught this incident,” he said.
Betts would neither confirm if the cameras helped identify the suspect nor comment on releasing the footage to the public to assist in the case.
“I’m just disappointed we’re having to employ (CCTV) so soon after launching this particular program,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, police closed Fleming Park on Brock and Aylmer streets, just three blocks northwest of where the victim was found. Betts said the canine unit led them to the Fleming Park area
Police are asking for the suspect to seek legal counsel and come forward.
Anyone with information can call police at 705-876-1122 ext. 555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit tips online at stopcrimehere.ca.
The first homicide of the year was on June 2 when a woman was fatally shot at the Wolfe Street tent encampment. Family identified her as Sarah King, a Peterborough mother of two. Police said she was not a resident of the encampment.
An arrest was made a week later and a first-degree murder charge was laid.
More to come
— with files from Robert Lothian/Global News Peterborough