Six children are without a father.
Loretta Goncalves, the mother of 32-year-old Jason Robert Baker, said Monday her son had gone to a home in the 300 block of Boyd Avenue on March 12 to pick up his niece.
He was one of two people who were shot dead at the address.
GOFUNDME
Jason Robert Baker was slain in a double homicide March 12. An unidentified teenage boy was also shot dead.
“I don’t know what more there is to be said,” she said. “There’s two people dead. One is my son, and my granddaughter was right there with him and watched him get shot and die in front of her. My son wasn’t armed. My son wasn’t there for trouble, but he sure got it.”
“And now there’s six little kids without a father.”
On Monday, police said they are making additional notifications before releasing information and hoped to provide further details Tuesday.
Officers were called to the North End home — identified by neighbours as 340 Boyd Avenue — around 5:30 p.m.; Baker and an unidentified teenage boy had serious injuries.
Both were taken to hospital in critical condition and later died. The identity of the second victim is not known.
A neighbour who spoke on the condition of anonymity said she heard 15 or 16 gunshots fired in two bursts and immediately called 911.
Multiple police cars quickly arrived at the home.
“I heard the shots and the first reaction always is gunshots or fireworks,” the woman said, adding that police were there within minutes. “There are a lot of people in this neighbourhood who shoot off fireworks in the middle of the day.”
Then she heard screaming.
“And then I heard more shots,” she said.
Another neighbour, who also asked not to be identified, said the violence unfolded in front of their family, including their children.
“It was awful,” they said, before declining to comment further out of fear.
Regina police said Baker was unlawfully at large at the time of his slaying.
Police issued a wanted notice for Baker on the same day after he failed to appear for a curfew check. The notice was removed a day later after officers learned he had been killed.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
The house at 340 Boyd Ave. where the fatal shootings occurred.
Regina police said Baker was required to live in the Saskatchewan capital as part of release conditions tied to a conviction. They did not provide details about the offence.
Baker also had history with Winnipeg police. In December 2021, he was arrested on several charges, including two counts of assaulting a police officer with a weapon and fleeing from police. At that time, he was wanted on a warrant for kidnapping and aggravated assault in relation to an incident on Nov. 1, 2021. Witnesses had reported seeing a woman in her 20s seriously assaulted at a bus stop at St. Mary’s Road and Fermor Avenue around 8 p.m. before she was forced into a vehicle.
About 40 minutes later, the woman jumped from a speeding SUV on the Trans-Canada Highway east of Deacons Corner. The vehicle briefly stopped but fled as other motorists pulled over to help.
RCMP took the woman, who had significant injuries, to the hospital in Steinbach.
Police arrested Baker’s brother, Joshua Andrew Baker, and charged him with kidnapping, aggravated assault and other offences. A warrant was issued for Jason Baker’s arrest.
A GoFundMe campaign has been created to help cover funeral expenses and support Baker’s children.
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“It is with heavy hearts that we share the sudden and tragic loss of our beloved dad, son, brother, uncle, cousin and friend Jason Robert Baker who was murdered on March 12, 2026 in Winnipeg,” the GoFundMe said.
Meanwhile, one of the neighbours who spoke to the Free Press said the area is a good place, and shouldn’t be looked down upon.
“While it affects all of us, there are so many more good people than people get to see and hear about,” she said. “(The bad stuff) is isolated to certain places. I don’t feel like most of us live in fear. I’ve lived here for 20 years.”
The woman said she did not know about any problems related to the house where the killings took place.
scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca
Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott.
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