Winnipeg cabbie hit in shoulder as shots fired at taxi

A Winnipeg cab driver is recovering from a bullet wound after his cab was shot at near the intersection of Gateway Road and Munroe Avenue early Sunday morning.

Unicity Taxi president Gurmail Mangat said one of his cab drivers took a bullet in the shoulder after someone in a car started firing at his vehicle.

Mangat said the cab was dispatched to an address on Henderson Highway, where the driver picked up two men and one woman who asked to be taken to the Superstore on Gateway.

He said the customers couldn't find who they wanted to meet there and asked to go to Munroe. That's when he saw a car start following them; it stopped, and shots were fired at the cab. 

"They fired six rounds," Mangat said.

Mangat said the men and woman in the cab fled on foot. The driver called 911 for help and fled the scene for the downtown where he met police and paramedics, he said.

Winnipeg police had several blocks surrounding the intersection of Gateway Road and Munroe Avenue closed off to traffic early Sunday. 

Sunday afternoon, police — including the K-9 and tactical unit — were on scene at Midwinter Avenue to Brazier Street in Elmwood in what was described as "a serious incident" on the Winnipeg police Twitter account. At least one person was taken into custody and police have asked the public to avoid the area.

Police haven't responded to multiple requests by CBC for information about either incident, including whether they could be linked. 

Several witnesses that spoke to CBC said they heard what sounded like at least three gunshots sometime before 7 a.m.

Bountheung Khoutxaysana said she heard gunshots around 6:20 a.m. while lying in bed.

"I heard this morning, the gun — three, four times," she said. "I [woke] up — really, really scared."

She said she saw three people run behind Munroe and a car take off.

Kendra Inglis said her daughter had been driving in the area with a car that kept stalling early Sunday morning.

It stalled again near Gateway and Munroe.

"They heard gunshots, her and her friends heard gunshots," Inglis said.

"And three people came running towards them."

"It's scary that at five in the morning, six in the morning, when people are trying to get ready for work, that this kind of stuff is transpiring," Inglis said.

Two police officers could be seen going in and out of a house near the scene Sunday morning. Police were interviewing witnesses inside Mom & Dad's Foodstore at the corner of the intersection and a K-9 unit was parked outside.