Police catch up to man after month of violent crimes, assaults in downtown Winnipeg

A 24-year-old man is charged with assault, fraud, uttering threats, and multiple weapons-related offences after a string of violent crimes in Winnipeg since October.

Police say the first incident happened Oct. 21 around 3 a.m. when a man was pepper-sprayed downtown on Kennedy Street.

The 41-year-old victim told officers he had an argument with a man outside of a restaurant on Edmonton Street. The 41-year-old ran when the other man started pulling out a weapon.

He was chased and on Kennedy Street, the victim had a handgun pointed at him, police said. The other man used pepper spray on the victim and left.

Police were able to identify the attacker and issued an arrest warrant on Oct. 29, but were unable to find the man.

Around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 11, he was back on their radar after assaulting and threatening a 33-year-old man outside of an Edmonton Street restaurant. The victim suffered upper-body injuries and another arrest warrant was issued for the attacker.

Then on Nov. 25, around 3:30 a.m., police were called about a fight at a nightclub on the 500 block of Portage Avenue.

They were told a man threatened someone while holding a knife and a can of bear spray. No one was injured as the attacker ran off before police showed up.

Police identified the man as the same person from the previous incidents and yet another arrest warrant was issued.

The man was finally tracked down at a motel in the 1800 block of Pembina Highway around noon on Monday.

He was found to have $5,000 in cash from what police believe to be criminal activities, as well as someone else's ID. In addition to all of the charges laid against him, he is facing eight counts of failing to comply with probation.