2 men charged, police look for 3rd in shooting death of Winnipeg soccer player

Winnipeg police have arrested two men and are searching for a third charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 22-year-old soccer player at a south end Winnipeg facility in July.

Police arrested Ibrahim Bangura, 26, in Winnipeg on Jan. 20, and Norbert Kipala, 27, on Feb. 5. Kipala was already in custody at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre for an unrelated matter, Const. Dani McKinnon said at a news conference Tuesday. 

Bangura, Kipala and Tresor Horimbere, 22, are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mohamed Yusuf Abdullahi, 22. Police are still looking for Horimbere.

Horimbere has family and friends in Winnipeg, but he might be in Ontario where he has other family connections, police said. He is described as approximately five feet, eight inches, with a thin build, weighing roughly 120 pounds.

Horimbere is considered armed and dangerous and he shouldn't be approached, McKinnon said. 

Abdullahi was shot in the parking lot of the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex on Waverley Street on July 13. Police were called there around 11:45 p.m. and found him unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds.

Abdullahi had just finished playing in the sixth Canada African Cup of Nations 2024 tournament on Team Eritrea and was shot while exiting through the parking lot after a busy night. 

The soccer player was rushed to hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.

Abdullahi was born in Somalia in 2002, and his family fled civil war there to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, one of his teammates said at a memorial for him last summer. 

In 2014, Abdullahi and his family moved to Canada, where he eventually graduated from Gordon Bell High School. He volunteered as a soccer coach for young children and had recently organized a weeks-long soccer program for Somali children, the teammate said.

Witnesses outside the soccer complex told police the shooter quickly left in a vehicle, but police have not confirmed if the three men left together and in a vehicle.

About 100 people were at the tournament that evening, and no one else was injured during the shooting, police previously said.

McKinnon said police investigated more than 100 people who might have been involved.

The three men charged with killing Abdullahi "took methods to conceal themselves and … they were likely in the crowd of the soccer game," McKinnon alleged. 

"There was some type of conflict … possibly related to drugs, gang activity [or] some type of criminal objective that was occurring between them."

The men were previously known to police, McKinnon said. 

Bangura, who has prior convictions involving robbery, theft and assault, is scheduled to appear in court on May 23. Kipala, who has no prior convictions in Manitoba, is expected to appear in court on Feb. 21.

Horimbere has an outstanding warrant related to firearms in 2023 in the area of Hawkesbury, Ont., a small town east of Ottawa, McKinnon said. 

Investigators determined that Horimbere was an acquaintance of Abdullahi, but they don't know whether he knew Bangura and Kipala.

Anyone with information about Horimbere's whereabouts is asked to contact Winnipeg police, Ontario police or Crime Stoppers.

Security measures ramped up

Gode Katembo, president of the Canada African Cup of Nations, said the arrests bring a sense of justice and relief. 

"It does not ease up the pain of losing our dear friend, our brother, a fellow teammate … the community is still on that healing journey."

Katembo said organizers are ramping up security measures since the fatal shooting. Spectators will soon be screened through a metal detector during the tournament to ensure no weapons are brought in. 

The games will also be monitored by security. 

"There's no place for violence in our province, in our communities," Katembo said.

The men charged with killing Abdullahi have never played in the tournament, he said.