Three teenagers arrested after shooting of carnival employee at Red River Exhibition: WPS

Winnipeg police say three teenagers were charged in connection with a shooting at Red River Exhibition Monday night that sent a 16-year-old carnival employee to hospital.

Investigators believe the shooting took place after an altercation.

Police say they received a report of a shooting at 7:03 p.m. and made their way to the exhibition park on Portage Avenue in east Winnipeg – where the Red River Ex carnival is taking place.

Patrol officers say they found a 16-year-old boy being treated by the on-site medical team.

The boy was taken to hospital in critical condition. He was later upgraded to stable condition.

Garth Rogerson, the CEO of the Red River Exhibition, says the victim was a 16-year-old employee at one of the event’s game booths.

Rogerson says he underwent surgery around 11 p.m.

“In this situation, a paramedic was on site within one second because they were standing adjacent to where it happened, followed by several other paramedics immediately,” said Rogerson.

Three suspects arrested, loaded gun recovered

Police say they located three suspects in a taxi in the area of Tyndall Avenue and Burrows Avenue around 7:23 p.m.

They were taken into custody. A loaded gun was seized.

A 17-year-old boy is facing several charges, including aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a restricted weapon, and failure to comply with a condition of release order.

A 15-year-old girl is also facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault and possession of a restricted weapon.

Both remained detained in custody.

A third suspect, another 17-year-old boy, was charged with aggravated assault and was released on an undertaking.

None of the charges have been proven in court.

‘How a gun got in is beyond me’

Long-time Red River Ex patron Matt Haiko, who was preparing to take in the fair Tuesday, says the incident has left him with many questions.

“I’m not shocked, it being Winnipeg, this type of thing,” he said. “But considering the security that you go through, they’re checking bags for alcohol and I don’t know what else, but how a gun got in is beyond me.”

Haiko feels Ex officials should be reviewing security and was glad to hear the incident is being examined closely.

“This should be taken seriously,” he said. “And that someone is in the hospital and almost died and this is a place where there’s children of all ages, and elderly people, and we should be feeling safe here and it’s just something we have to do and it better get done.”

Red River Ex is safe, says CEO

Rogerson says the event is working with police to find out more about how the weapon was brought inside and how they can prevent future weapons from getting in.

“What’s happened is unacceptable so we’re going to be reviewing our procedures,” said Rogerson. “Are there any holes? With such a large property, if you really wanted to do something bad, you might be able to get in, so we have to plug those holes.

“And we’ll be looking at the number of officers we have, so maybe we’ll expand that as well, so we’ll be working on that today.”

Rogerson stresses despite the recent incident, the event is safe.

He says there’s a security guard ratio of one guard to every 250 guests. But he says with the population of a small city coming and going from the event, it’s important to be prepared for anything.

“Last night, we had about 10,000 people on site, so we’re the size of Selkirk, Manitoba,” he said. “And on the weekend, we’re the size of Portage la Prairie, or Steinbach, so we’re a small city and that’s why we have a significant number of security officers, alongside eight paramedics and ambulances.

“So we’re doing all the things that a city does, but we’re compacting that audience into 120 acres.”

Surge in crime involving Winnipeg teenagers

It’s the latest incident in a string of armed robberies, aggravated assaults, shootings and stabbings involving teenagers in Winnipeg this month.

Community outreach workers say the spring spike in crime in the city is alarming.

CRIME INVOLVING TEENS THIS MONTH

• Teenage girls attacked, robbed woman after getting off bus in south Winnipeg: police
• Winnipeg teens allegedly robbed at gunpoint in string of firearm incidents
• Three teens charged with aggravated assault after school incident

On Friday, police say three teenage girls attacked a woman without provocation and robbed her at knifepoint.

Earlier in June, Winnipeg teens were allegedly robbed at gunpoint by a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy.

And three teenage girls were charged with aggravated assault after witnesses say they beat a victim behind Victoria-Albert School.