{"id":451421,"date":"2026-02-03T15:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/451421\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:42:15","slug":"assault-at-manitoba-hydro-building-raising-concerns-about-downtown-safety-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/451421\/","title":{"rendered":"Assault at Manitoba Hydro building raising concerns about downtown safety – Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

An assault at the Manitoba Hydro building in Winnipeg on Friday has some members of the community questioning safety in the city\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Police were called to the 300 block of Portage Avenue on Friday at about 5:30 p.m. after several calls reporting a suspect armed with a knife causing a disturbance in the area.<\/p>\n

According to Winnipeg Police, the disturbance \u201cescalated,\u201d and a man walking through the building was knocked to the ground by the suspect.<\/p>\n

The man was able to disarm the suspect, with several bystanders stepping in to help until police arrived. The victim was treated for minor injuries by members of the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service.<\/p>\n

Officers arrived at 5:36 p.m. and located the suspect, who they say was unco-operative and continued to be violent. This prompted police to use a Taser to take him into custody. The knife was also seized.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

An 18-year-old man is now facing charges of possession of a weapon and assault with a weapon. He has since been released on an undertaking.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

Days later, the Manitoba Hydro building has security preventing all but employees in as the company reassess safety measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re going to make what changes we need to make sure this kind of thing doesn\u2019t happen again and that Manitoba Hydro employees and the public are safe coming here,\u201d Peter Chura, Manitoba Hydro media relations officer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how long the building will be closed to the public or what measures will be implemented, but the incident has some business owners and community members concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s still a serious problem in our city and across the world, but I don\u2019t see as much as I did during a period of time,\u201d said Aimee Peake, owner of Bison Books.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t2026 Grammy Awards: The most eye-catching red carpet looks\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t13-year-old Australian boy makes \u2018superhuman\u2019 swim to save stranded family\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Peake says she\u2019s seen less violence since the COVID-19 pandemic, but said incidents like the assault on Friday can shake public perception of downtown Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg police\u2019s most recent statistical report found a 1.4 per cent drop in violent crime in 2024, the first drop in four years.<\/p>\n

Despite Friday\u2019s incident, Peake said she\u2019s encouraging people to support downtown businesses so they can continue to stay open.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cDowntown is what you make it,\u201d Peake said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t come down here, if you don\u2019t spend your money here, it\u2019s going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ (Business Improvement Zone) was not available for an interview, but said in a statement there isn\u2019t one solution to improving safety. The organization did call on governments to increase bail reform, provide more supports for mental health and addictions and find ways to bring more people downtown to create safe spaces.<\/p>\n

\u2014with files from Global News\u2019 Vasilios Bellos<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An assault at the Manitoba Hydro building in Winnipeg on Friday has some members of the community questioning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,2169,43,44,41,39,42,40,179230,185676],"class_list":["post-451421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-winnipeg-crime","tag-winnipeg-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}