WINNIPEG – A former girlfriend of a Winnipeg man accused of killing five people says he was prone to seizures that knocked him unconscious with prolonged convulsions.
The jury trial for Jamie Felix began its second week with emotional testimony from the woman about their three-year relationship before his arrest.
Felix has pleaded not guilty to five counts of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths at a rooming house in November 2023.
Police vehicles are shown outside the scene of a shooting at a home in Winnipeg on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. Officers were called shortly after 4 a.m. to a home where they found five people wounded. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
The woman, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban, says Felix was a loving partner but struggled with periods of drug and alcohol addiction following the death of his twin brother.
Court previously heard that Felix was on anti-seizure medication and was advised by doctors not to mix it with drugs or alcohol.
The woman says she witnessed Felix have multiple seizures and that he would collapse, sometimes turn blue, become disoriented.
She said it would take him a while to become alert again.
Crown prosecutors have argued that the accused was using crack and drinking alcohol in the days before the mass shooting.
Police were called to a unit in the home after reports of a stabbing, but when they arrived found five people with gunshot wounds.
Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others died in hospital. The fifth, who had been in hospital since the shooting, died last year.
The victims were identified as: Crystal Beardy, 34; her sister Stephanie Beardy, 33; Melelek Lesikel, 29; Dylan Lavallee, 41; and Shawn Marko, 56.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2026.