The family of the city's latest homicide victim is remembering a "bright teenager with a smile that was like a million bucks."
Winnipeg police weren't saying who the seventh homicide victim of 2010 was, but family and friends on the man's Facebook page identified him as 19-year-old Jordan Shane McIvor.
McIvor died shortly after being rushed to hospital at about 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Witnesses were saying hours later he had either been stabbed with a knife or struck by wooden planks, possibly with nails sticking out of them.
Little more than two hours before he was found in an alley between a Manitoba Housing apartment block at 1585 Notre Dame Ave. and Bannatyne Avenue, McIvor sent a message to his friends: "chillin out in tha WESTSIDE......ya'll no wat it is!!!!!!!!!!!"
McIvor's Facebook page said he had just begun a relationship on Sunday with a woman who, a person outside the Notre Dame apartment said, lived inside the building.
The same person believed another person in the building was a suspect. Police did not confirm whether they have someone in custody.
Neighbours said the woman had been taken away by police for questioning.
Hours later, several of McIvor's family and friends were using their own Facebook pages to express their shock and grief at the young man's sudden passing.
"Love u bro" said one, while another said "you'll always be rememberd and missed."
One friend was angry and asked people "who was wit him?"
"Anyone have his back do u have any idea who tha f... done this or wut gang?"
A Facebook memorial page for McIvor quickly had more than 100 members sign up to express their grief.
McIvor's aunt, Alaya, said on Facebook that her nephew will be missed by many members of his family. She said Jordan is originally from the Sandy Bay First Nation, where his mother and father still live.
"We are trying to coming to grips with the violence that hit our family like a volt of lightning unexpected," she said. "We feel helpless right now because there is nothing we could do to bring him back to us. We need to stop this kind of harsh violence in our community."
Meanwhile, Winnipeg police were being tight-lipped about the slaying. All police would say is a man, who suffered injuries to his upper body, died after being rushed to hospital. Police said they knew the identity of the man, but were not releasing it yet "in consideration of the family."
Police are asking anyone with any information to call officers at 986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 786-TIPS (8477).
For hours, police took photographs and gathered evidence in two separate courtyards between the four apartment buildings and in the alley behind. Police also took photographs of broken parts of a white wooden fence behind a house on Cecil Street.
The entire apartment block, as well as the alley from Bannatyne Avenue to Cecil Street, was blocked off with yellow tape.
A man, who would only say his name was Chuck, said he went outside his apartment suite after hearing a woman crying.
"I came out and the lady was sitting beside him (the victim) on the ground," he said.
"She had phoned 911 and she handed me her cellphone. I checked for a heart beat. He wasn't breathing. He was dead."
Chuck said he noticed a puncture wound in the man's upper chest.
Chuck said he didn't know who the man was, but when asked if he knew the woman, he said he couldn't comment any further.
Another man who lives nearby said all he could say was he saw two men running in the back lane and one of them was holding a knife.
A woman in her seventies, who didn't want her name used, said "I heard yelling and woke up.
"I looked out the window. Two guys were running through the yard with building planks," said the tenant, who has lived in one of the buildings for 32 years. She said there was lumber nearby that was being used for work on the apartments.
"I heard the woman screaming."
"Then I saw two guys running into the street, onto Notre Dame, with wood the builders were using."
WINNIPEG -- City police now say the death of a man in the 1500 block of Notre Dame Avenue this morning is a homicide.
Officers were called to the scene about 2:30 a.m. The victim had suffered serious injuries to his upper body.
It's Winnipeg's seventh homicide of 2010.
This morning, investigators have the front of Milton Court -- four, three-storey brick apartment buildings -- at 1585 Notre Dame Ave. blocked off with yellow tape. The buildings, operated by Manitoba Housing, are between Bannatyne Avenue and Cecil Street.
One Bannatyne Avenue resident, whose home backs onto the Manitoba Housing development, said he didn't hear anything out the ordinary during the night.
"I woke up this morning and there were cop cars in the lane," the resident said.
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