Winnipeg lawyer Maria Mitousis, 38, injured by bomb in law office

A Winnipeg lawyer has beentaken to hospital in critical condition, and a law office was evacuated,following theexplosion of a bomb in the city's Fort Rouge neighbourhood on Friday morning.

Policeconfirmed that MariaMitousis, 38,was injured in the explosion.Mitousishas worked at Petersen King, where she practises family law,since September2014.

"I'mnot sure exactly how this device came to be in her possession, whether it was mailed or dropped off or something like that," Winnipeg police spokesman Const. EricHofley said.

"Howeverit came into her possession, it was an explosive device that was triggered inadvertently."

Crews were called to thePetersen King officeat 252River Ave., around10:15 a.m. CT.

A converted transit bus, used for emergencies involving large numbers of people, was called to the scene, along with several police cars, fire trucks andthecity'shazardous materialsunit. The city's bomb unit was calledand entered the building around 12:15 p.m.

Police said an officerwho happened to be in the areaarrived shortly after the callto findMitousissuffering fromseriousupper-body injuries.Witnesses said they saw a woman being taken from the building.

"I went out and I see the woman coming out in a stretcher.She was covered in blood and everything on her face," said Denis Michel Thibeault.

Police confirm Maria Mitousis victim of Winnipeg law office explosion

9 years ago

Duration 5:32

Winnipeg police confirm Maria Mitousis, 38, was injured during an explosion at the Petersen King law offices

Mitousiswas taken to hospital in critical condition, police said, adding that they believe she is undergoingsurgery.

The explosion damaged part of the law office.

Supt. Danny Smyth saidinvestigators do not believe it was a random incident.

"Certainly we know she was in there on her own; we don't know if she was a specific target," he told reporters on Friday afternoon.

Smyth admitted that this case is not typical for Winnipeg.

"I've been a cop for nearly 30 years.We don't see a lot of bombings in our city," he said.

"It's a very unusual event, it's a very tragic event, but we'll certainly treat it as a crime and see where the investigation takes us."

Friends of Mitousis set up a GoFundMepage for the 38 year old Saturday.

Downtown buildingevacuated

Hours after crews were called to Peterson King, police said,a suspicious package was spotted at the Monk Goodwin law office on 444 St. Mary Ave., in the city's downtown.

Smyth confirmed that Mitousis used to work for Monk Goodwin. Employees there made that connection and decided to evacuate the building, he said.

About 4:45 p.m., thepolice bomb squad entered the building.

Policeoriginally said no suspicious packages had been delivered to the building, but they later confirmed something suspicious was found.

Radio-Canada reporter Louis-Philippe LeBlanc spoke with someone from the building who said officers did a sweep of the seventh, eighth and ninth floors. They have since been cleared.

Mitousis's romantic partner, Barry Gorlick, was also in the news on Friday when it was revealed that he has been disbarred.

Gorlickadmittedto 15 counts of professional misconduct, including failing to serve a client and misappropriating funds.

• Winnipeg lawyer Barry Gorlick disbarred
• GO PUBLIC |Clients feel scammed as alleged lawyer misconduct kept quiet

He was a subject of a 2014 CBC Go Public investigation in which a client said she paid $5,000 for Gorlick to file a lawsuit, which was never filed.

Gorlick has never worked at Petersen King, the law firm where Friday's explosion took place, but he and Mitousis used to work at Monk Goodwin.

Police have not confirmedif Gorlick or Mitousis or anyone else was the intended target of the explosive device.

The Law Society of Manitoba sent its members the following notification regarding the explosion on Friday: