An Winnipeg police officer examines the vandalism at headquarters. Photo: Jesse Andrushko/APTN.
The headquarters of the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) was blocked off with yellow tape and closed to the public Wednesday morning.
The forensic team was collecting evidence and photographing numerous red hand prints and slogans that were painted all over the downtown building and nearby structures Tuesday night.
Emotions were high when a few dozen protestors, family members and supporters arrived on the scene following the arrest of Tre Delaronde. Among them were Kyra Wilson, chief of Long Plain First Nation west of Winnipeg, and Indigenous musician and activist Logan Staats.
Members of the crowd painted slogans like “just dig pig” and “this blood is on WPS hands” on the front windows of the ground floor of the high-rise building.
On social media, WPS posted: “Please be advised that Station Duty along with Record Checks will be closed this morning till noon due to an incident that occurred yesterday evening.”
According to an emailed statement from the WPS “numerous police units were present to de-escalate the situation and maintain public safety. After approximately two hours, the crowd disbursed, and nobody was injured.”
The vandalism was witnessed by thousands online while being broadcast live on Facebook.
Delaronde, a member of the First Nations Indigenous Warriors, was arrested at The Forks in Winnipeg on Tuesday evening. He has been a mainstay at Camp Morgan at the Brady landfill since December 2022.
Camp members have been calling for the landfills to be searched in an effort to retrieve the remains of slain Indigenous women.
Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois, and a fourth woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) were killed last year. Their remains are believed to be in the nearby Prairie Green Landfill or Brady Road landfill south of Winnipeg.
Contois’ partial remains were found at the Brady Landfill in May of 2022.
Getting a search underway has been the focus of months of demonstration and weeks of political wrangling.
Read More:
Brady landfill blockade dismantled in Winnipeg
‘Our women are worth it’: The case for searching the Prairie Green Landfill
WPS announced that Delaronde was charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, possession of body armour without a valid permit, and mischief under $5000. According to an emailed statement, Delaronde was “released on an Undertaking as mandated by the Criminal Code.”
APTN asked leaders of Camp Morgan and Camp Marcedes, which was recently established on the grounds of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at The Forks, for information on Delaronde’s arrest but did not hear back.
They have charged a local man with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the women’s deaths.
This article was updated 07/26/2023 at 6:40 CT to include a statement by the Winnipeg police
