4 arrested after series of robberies, carjackings in Winnipeg

After a series of violent robberies and carjackings, police tracked a stolen vehicle to a Winnipeg home and arrested four people inside, who now face dozens of charges.

The string of robberies started on Oct. 17. A 26-year-old woman was on Logan Avenue, just off McPhillips Street, when she was assaulted. While the woman was not seriously injured, police said the man who attacked her was able to get money before running away.

Two days later, a man went into a house on Garwood Avenue, near Pembina Highway, and threatened a man inside with a knife. The robber fled the house and the man who lived there wasn't injured, police said.

A few weeks later, on Nov. 13, a man was parking his car on Sherbrook Streetnear Health Sciences Centre, when a man ran up to his vehicle and threatened him with a gun. The driver got out of his vehicle, but police said the carjacker wasn't able to drive away because the vehicle had a manual transmission.

Instead, the carjacker got out of the vehicle, ran to another vehicle nearby and pointed the gun at the driver of that vehicle, police said. The driver of the second vehicle was not injured and the man took off in the vehicle.

Last Monday, two women were inside a vehicle on Charles Walk, near Flora Avenue, when they were confronted by two men who threatened them with a gun and demanded the vehicle.

The two men drove off in the vehicle, but police tracked it to a home on Redwood Avenue, near Charles Street. Two women and two men were arrested and three loaded firearms were found in the home, police said.

The women were each charged on more than 20 counts related to firearms and stolen property.

A 22-year-old man faces 47 charges and a 31-year-old man faces 34 charges relating to firearms and robberies.

Police spokesperson Const. Rob Carver said Saturday that there's been a series of "very serious incidents with numerous victims."

"It's difficult to talk about these because in each of these cases we have essentially innocent individuals who were confronted [and]assaulted by the accused with weapons," he said.

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