1 man dead, 2 injured after shooting at downtown hotel, police say

A man is dead following a shooting at the Windsor Hotel early Sunday morning, Winnipeg police say.

Officers were called to the scene on Garry Street at 2:53 a.m., a Winnipeg Police Service officer told CBC News.

Three men were taken to hospital in critical condition. One of the men died in hospital, and the other two are recovering after being shot, the officer said.

No arrests have been made. The homicide unit is investigating.

This shooting death comes less than 48 hours after Winnipeg registered its first homicide of the year. 

On Friday, a woman was found seriously injured in a home in St. Vital. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where she was pronounced dead. Police said a man has been arrested and will likely release further details on Monday.

Drugs, guns seized at hotel

The hotel has been the scene of several gun- and drug-related incidents in the last two months. 

On Nov. 2, officers at the hotel on a routine call arrested a 46-year-old man in breach of a court order.

Police said the man had a bag containing $9,000 worth of cocaine, $1,500 worth of crack cocaine, $8,800 worth of an opioid called OxyNeo, a loaded 9-mm handgun and ammunition, a sawed off .22-calibre rifle, shotgun shells, five cellphones and $7,600 in cash. The man was charged with a range of weapons, trafficking and theft offences.

Two days later, police seized methamphetamine, a .22-calibre rifle, cash, a loaded pellet gun, drug packaging materials, additional ammunition and drug-trafficking score sheets. The bust led to numerous charges against a 55-year-old man.

On Nov. 6, police were back at the hotel after a report of shots fired. Police said during a dispute in the bar, a 31-year-old man hit a 35-year-old woman with the butt-end of a shotgun, then pointed the weapon at her.

The woman swatted it away, causing it to fire into the door of a suite, police said.

The man ran before police arrived, but left behind a large bag with two sawed-off shotguns, a loaded .22 rifle and ammunition for all three guns. Police said the man was arrested on Dec. 11, and was charged with multiple offences, including assault with a weapon.

After those busts, Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Max Waddell said the hotel has been a trouble spot for years, and recalled a shooting last April that took out the building's electrical panel.

The incident led to police closing nearby streets for hours and clearing every floor of the three-storey building as a precaution. A 55-year-old man was later charged with numerous gun-related offences.

The head of the police service's guns and gangs unit said  discussions about what to do to control the behaviour at the hotel — like revoking the business's liquor licence or shutting it down completely — have been going on.

"[It's] most certainly a conversation we need to have," Waddell said in mid-December. "And [it] would be definitely a move in the right direction."