Gunman threatened teenagers’ lives during Winnipeg hostage situation: police watchdog
Posted June 1, 2026 3:57 pm.
The suspect who held two teenagers and a man hostage in a Winnipeg home on Friday before eventually being shot dead by police had threatened to kill his hostages.
That’s according to the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU), which is investigating the man’s fatal shooting by police shortly after the hostages were rescued.
The Manitoba police watchdog provided some additional information into the armed-and-barricaded incident on King Edward Street.
They say it began with officers from the Manitoba Integrated Violent Offender Apprehension Unit (MIVOAU) attempting to arrest a 34-year-old suspect driving a stolen vehicle and reportedly carrying a firearm in the Polo Park Shopping Centre just before 10:30 a.m.
The police watchdog says the suspect was also wanted on warrants but did not provide further details.
They say the suspect slammed into a police vehicle to evade capture, then fled the scene on foot.
After a several-minutes-long police chase on foot, police allege the man went into a home, barricaded himself inside with three people and pointed a firearm at officers.
“Officers reported seeing the male point a firearm at them through the drapes of an open window, at which time a police officer discharged their firearm, causing the male to retreat from the window and out of view inside the residence,” the IIU said in a news release Monday.
Authorities say a man – not the suspect – ran out of the home around 11:10 a.m. and told officers two teenage girls had been taken hostage.
“The resident told officers that an unknown male with a firearm had broken into the home and stated that he was going to kill all of them,” IIU wrote.
One teen was later rescued through the home’s main floor window, and the second was rescued after a fire broke out and officers went into the smoke-filled home.
Police say the man was fleeing the home with a firearm when he was shot. The suspect sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
–With files from The Canadian Press
