After record number of homicides, Manitoba sees highest increase in crime severity index in Canada
CBC
Terri Morrissette doesn't walk alone to her neighbourhood convenience store anymore.
It's a choice the Winnipegger made long before a store employee was shot by a gunman this week on Logan Avenue — a violent act triggered by the theft of a beverage worth only a few dollars.
Speaking Thursday afternoon with her granddaughter by her side, Morrissette said she's felt less safe in her neighbourhood since the pandemic.
"I got anxiety where I can't go walking around with someone beside me," she said.
"And something I never used was a cellphone, now I carry a cellphone with me just in case I need it."
New data from Statistics Canada backs up what Morrissette has observed.
In Manitoba, the crime severity index — one of the tools the federal agency uses to track the volume and severity of reported crimes — increased by 14 per cent in 2022 from the year before, the largest spike in any province in Canada.
The index rose four per cent across the country, reaching the highest point since 2007.
In Manitoba, both violent and non-violent crime contributed fairly equally to its increase on the index scale.
As well, the agency says the crime severity index in Winnipeg, which rose by 20 per cent from 2021 to 2022, is the highest of any census metropolitan area with a population of at least 100,000 people.
Morrissette isn't surprised by the statistics, but they still make her uneasy.
"It's getting nerve-racking, hearing about all of this," she said, "and it's scary, especially when it's in your neighbourhood."
One recent example of that violence occurred late Tuesday morning, when police responded to a 21-year-old man suffering from "life-threatening injuries" at the Logan Avenue store, east of Arlington Street.
Video surveillance shows the man, an employee, walked out of the store to confront a man who left without paying for their drink. The alleged shoplifter, a 22-year-old man, responded by shooting the worker and running away. He was later arrested, while the employee was sent to hospital. His condition has since been upgraded to stable.
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