Julia Jean and Jorge Torres decided to go for a late night drive in The Forks on July 1 when they saw cars circling a waving pedestrian. “And when we saw, we were like, this guy is bleeding. So we pulled over. We ran over to him and saw that he had been stabbed in the neck and we said, ‘Sit down and lie down,’” Torres said. Torres tried to comfort the man, who still had a knife to his throat, while Jean called 911. Zhan, who speaks Ukrainian, then stepped in to help translate. The couple learned that the victim and his friend were recent immigrants fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “July 1st was two weeks in Manitoba and they said today we just found the apartment and moved downtown, and this is our first night out, we’re going for a walk to The Forks to celebrate Canada Day,” he remembers. Jean. Jean said the victims explained they were crossing the street when they ran into another group. They tried to turn around and apologize but found it difficult to do so because they did not speak the language. They then said they saw one of the men put out bear spray and were then attacked. In a call with CTV News, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed that one man was stabbed and the other was sprayed with bear spray. Officers said the investigation is ongoing. On Sunday morning, Jean took the friend to see the other victim at the hospital. “They said we can come visit him after 9 a.m., and we picked up the friend, picked him up from the center, took him to the emergency room at St. Boniface. [Hospital]said Jean. According to Jean, the man who was stabbed is awake and receiving treatment. Zhan said Ukrainians aren’t sure where to go or what to do now, but they feel it’s not safe here. The couple is now calling on Winnipeggers to act faster to help others and do something about violent crime in the city. “For me, the reason I’m kind of upset is because it’s just embarrassing for our city, you know, and the fact that it happened to these people,” Torres said. These attacks come after two violent incidents earlier in the week in The Forks. Winnipeg police reported an assault in the parking lot Monday night that resulted in the assault of a father and daughter. Days later, police said two men with stab wounds were found outside The Forks Market on Wednesday. A woman was also treated for minor injuries. – With files from CTV’s Kayla Rosen.
