Let's get this straight: A Winnipeg cop shoots an armed suspect who has just lunged at him with a weapon, and the result is he's called a racist, and a bad cop in the media and has his named dragged through the mud for years. Ultimately after an extensive investigation, his name is cleared.

But, when a cop kills an innocent woman while driving drunk - after a bunch of fellow officers let him behind the wheel - the police force from top to bottom is there to cover it up, and make sure that one of their own gets away with murder.

Apparently Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill testified that he told his officers to tell the truth about what happened that night. Did he follow up that request with a wink and a smirk?

Any credibility the Winnipeg Police had is gone, and it's not because of good cops like Const. Dennis Gburek. It's because our Chief of Police oversaw an incompetent and corrupt police force - and got promoted to Chief of Police. There is no justice in Manitoba.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

Manitoba Public Insurance has adopted a policy where law abiding car owners will not be allowed to legally insure they're cars without government approved immobilizers installed. Cars which are on their list of "most at-risk" vehicles to be stolen will no longer be insured without a government sanctioned immobilizer installed.

As the proud owner of a rusty banged-up fifteen year-old car, which also happens to be on "the list", I find this a little outrageous. My car is not worth the cost of an immobilizer, and frankly if someone wants to steal my car I wish them the best of luck.

I would have no problem with the policy if I were able to find another insurance company, but in Manitoba you can't. In Manitoba you can't legally drive you're car if you're not insured. And you can only insure your car with the government-mandated monopoly Manitoba Public Insurance.

After a series of articles in the Winnipeg Sun by Tom Brodbeck, I'm also quite concerned about the irreparable damage this sucker's going to cause to my car. My car is actually about three different cars Frankenstein'd together, and having some witless hack who usually installs car stereos under my hood doesn't instill a lot of confidence. But my car runs great because the hatchetman behind it is very talented at what he does, but the MPI "certified professional" installing the immobilizer is unlikely to have the same magic touch.

Just for fun, the letter I received from MPI closes with the statement, "Get the theft protection you and your newer vehicle deserve." Clearly this concept is designed to target "newer vehicle" owners, not people who own old cars that are worthless.

If you're in agreement with me, please sign this petition by The Canadian Tax Payers Federation to have this policy reversed. It's a travesty that we have a government that feels it needs to control such minute aspects of our lives.

Labels: Manitoba, Real Life, Winnipeg Crime

As Winnipeg suffers from yet another death caused by car thieves, the government continues to dither and deflect on the issue.

Justice Minister Dave Chomiak is demanding that the Federal government toughen the YCJA. It's a good call, it's definitely a necessary step to put a stop to this epidemic.

Chomiak is barking up the wrong tree. Rather than calling on the Conservative government to introduce the bill, he should be demanding his Federal NDP counterparts to vote for the bill. It's his Dipper buddies who are always watering down the Torie's crime bills when they're not voting against them.

Likewise, Chomiak should be concerned with whats going on in our own backyard foremost. The Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy (WATSS) is obviously not sufficient as a deterrent or a prevention strategy.

Prof. Rick Linden, member of the Manitoba Auto Theft Task Force, sums it up best: "Just hours after being released, they'll be back doing it again. We thought that with youth knowing police are following them more intensely it would be a deterrent, but many of these kids aren't deterred at all. It's just part of youth culture in some areas."

The police can only act as a deterrent if the courts will hand down real consequences for the criminal. In the case of youth car thieves in Winnipeg, The Law is a catch and release program where the kids have no reason to fear being caught.

Gary Doer and the NDP need to take some new action on this still-growing problem. Chomiak's comment that, "We've now had several (stolen car deaths) and several is too many", does not instill a lot of confidence. Isn't ONE DEATH too many?

Labels: Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Gary Doer, Manitoba, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

It's a very simple proposition: if someone commits a crime with a gun, that person should spend a period of time in jail.

Most of the Canadian population would agree with the Conservatives gun bill. After all, it was one of their key platforms during the last election, and the Conservatives won.

Unfortunately, Manitoba Liberal MP's don't agree.

Neville said the bill was poor legislation because it stripped the judiciary of its sentencing powers and refused to support it.

"It flew against the advice of many people in the justice system," said Neville, adding sentencing is often best left to judges after they've heard all the evidence in a case and not legislators.

"You have to leave the discretion to the judiciary."

She said her main concern with the bill was an escalating clause that would send criminals to prison for longer sentences with subsequent offences.

Except that judges have been saying for years that new legislation is needed if Canada is to get tough on gun crimes. They've claimed that there are precedents that prevent them from handing down "tough" sentences. The only solution to this problem is new legislation.

The "escalating clause" of the bill which Neville is so opposed to, is one that would have criminals serve longer sentences the second time they commit an offense. As the bill currently stands, for a first conviction of a gun crime, the minimum sentence handed down would be a five year jail term. On that persons second offense, the minimum sentence would lengthen to a seven year jail term. If you keep doing the crime, you keep getting more time. It seems fair.

Not to Anita Neville however. Neville would rather leave that up to the judges discretion, to let the criminals justify there behavior, and get a slap on the wrist. We're not talking about punk auto-thieves, or shoplifters here; we're talking about criminals that point a gun at their victims and threaten their lives. They have absolutely no place on our streets.

The truth of the matter is that for three consecutive Liberal governments, the laws of this land were watered down in favor of criminals. If Liberal MP's were to vote in favor of these "tough on crime" laws, it'd be an admission that their reign was a failure. You need to look no further than the Youth Criminal Justice Act for evidence.

The Liberals would rather spend billions of dollars on a gun registry, which has proven to be a failure, while letting the criminals off without taking any responsibility.

In fact all of Manitoba's Liberal MP's voted against the legislation. That includes Tina Keeper, MP for Churchill; and Ray Simard, MP for St. Boniface. For the Liberal MP's from Manitoba it was a free vote, they had no instructions as to how to vote. They voted how they thought their constituents would have wanted them to vote. But even the typically soft-on-crime NDP voted for the bill.

To those folks living in Winnipeg South-Center, contact Anita Neville and let her know how you feel about her "stand" to keep as many gun criminals on the streets as possible. She can be e-mailed at Neville.A@parl.gc.ca or at email@anitaneville.ca.

Update: Right in Manitoba raises another point:

Even more ironic is that just this week we heard Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty demanding that the federal Conservatives toughen up gun laws. Rather than call on the Conservatives Dalton, you may do better talking to you brother David [Liberal MP for Ottawa South] and his cronies!

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Guns, Liberal Party, Manitoba, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Crime

The Winnipeg Sun:

The National Anti-Poverty Organization has filed a legal challenge in Court of Queen's Bench against the Obstructive Solicitation Bylaw which took effect in 2005, banning public begging at locations where so-called "captive audiences" can be targeted -- at pay phones, transit stops and around banks, bar patios and taxi stands, among other such sites. NAPO and the Public Interest Law Centre -- a branch of Legal Aid Manitoba -- yesterday joined other social support groups in attacking the clampdown that they say is a wrong-headed move "making poverty illegal" in much of the city while violating human rights.

The error in NAPO's argument is that the bylaw does nothing to make "poverty illegal". It doesn't even ban panhandling. All you need to do is go to downtown Winnipeg to see that panhandling is still alive and well in this city.

What the bylaw does stop is those aggressive beggars who stalk their prey at ATM's and try to intimidate the rest of the population. The bylaw is not aimed at the down-on-their-luck types who find an intersection to solicit donations. Those are the ones who are usually fairly polite and don't have a problem when you say "sorry dude". It's aimed at the thugs who verbally and physically assault anybody who's not willing to hand over their wallet. When Winnipeg police see a panhandler using intimidation tactics on the general public, they need to be able to take that individual off the streets.

Aside from protecting the public from these few menacing individuals, the bylaw also will help to curb the poverty problem in Winnipeg. The bylaw allows for a sentence of up to six months to be handed down to aggressive beggars. A six month penitentiary term would give many of these individuals the opportunity they need to get help; be it with an addiction, mental illness, or even with job-finding skills.

Toronto is having the same problem with troublesome panhandlers that Winnipeg was having, until the bylaw was passed. Unfortunately for Torontonians, their city council has decided to take a more "holistic" approach, with an emphasis on maintaining "the rights and dignity of the urban poor".

The problem with Toronto's approach is that the victims of these aggressive and abusive vagrants are often those passive panhandlers who don't bother anybody. And "holistic" approach will only work with those panhandlers who need a hand-up; whereas the violent panhandlers are only looking for a hand-out.

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz should fight this to the Supreme Court if necessary. It's not a matter of the "human rights" of panhandlers, it's a matter of human rights for the rest of us who want to be able to safely walk down the streets of our cities without fear.

Labels: Human Rights, Ontario, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

Another shooting in Winnipeg's West End, for no apparent reason. This time the victim was a 17 year-old girl named Jenna Catcheway, who was minding her own business at the time. Fortunately, her wounds were not that serious (h/t).

The girl said the ordeal began when the group started to throw rocks at a house across from the Agnes Street house where she lives.

After at least one window smashed, she said people came out of the home and chased the vandals around the corner and down an alley.

Out of curiosity, the girl and her 11-year-old brother followed to watch. Standing about 150 yards from the siblings, police said one of the youths pointed a firearm at them and pulled the trigger.

"All we heard was a loud bang and then we looked at my sister's arm and it was bloody," her brother said.

The girl ran home and was taken to Health Sciences Centre's emergency room, where staff confirmed she had been shot. She was released six hours later.

The culprit was one of five gangstas, all of whom were wearing black and white colors. Read more at The Winnipeg Free Press, and Winnipeg First

Labels: Manitoba, Winnipeg Crime

When you see the words "Liberal" and "tough on crime" in the same headline, you know it'll be funny.

Getting tougher on car thieves is the main plank in the Manitoba Liberals' justice platform.

Jon Gerrard, on the first day of the provincial election campaign, says his government would impose an automatic lifetime ban on holding a driver's licence for anyone convicted of two auto thefts.

Here's an idea for Doctor Jon: Throw the bastards in jail!

The fact that the Liberal's actually believe that the absence of a drivers license would deter a serial car thief makes me wonder if Mr. Gerrard wasn't smoking on the Legislative Buildings front lawn with all the potheads on April 20th.

Come to think of it, he does seem a little confused:

Gerrard says poverty and mental-health issues are the root causes of many of Manitoba's crime problems. He would fund support for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and provide adequate community centre facilities to keep kids off the streets.

Jon also doesn't buy into Anita Neville's head-in-sand approach to crime:

The Liberal leader says Winnipeg is no longer a safe city. Winnipeg has a national reputation as the car-theft capital of Canada.

Will Anita Neville demand an apology from Jon Gerrard for sullying Winnipeg's good name? Not likely, they're good friends. Anita Neville actually chaired Jon Gerrard's 1999 campaign. They also both like to blame crime on so-called root causes.

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Manitoba, Winnipeg Crime

Last week I wrote a bit about local blogger Curtis Webb at WinnipegTheft.com. Curtis is under investigation for linking to a YouTube video that disclosed the names of a few of Winnipeg's notorious juvenile car thieves.

Curtis' bravery has been trumped by the brazen stupidity of Starblubber at WinnipegPunks.com. While attempting to vilify Curtis Webb as a criminal-linker, he gone and done the very act he finds so offensive; he identified the same three youths that Curtis is accused of IDing. I guess Starblubber was trying to justify his anger by posting a screen-shot of WinnipegTheft.com with the names visible, but the end result is a smoking bullet wound in his own foot.

The page was here, but since it was noticed by Curtis it's been taken down. I wonder why? Thankfully, Curtis grabbed a screen-shot of the screen-shot (still with me?) in question.

Also, the good folks at Google still have page in their cache. The cached version doesn't actually have the names on it anymore, because WinnipegTheft doesn't have them displayed any longer. How? Because Starblubber used an inline frame to display Curtis' site on his board. What an inline frame does is display another webpage inside the current page. Therefore, when Curtis had the so-called "illegal video" on his main page, it was also displayed by Starblubber's post. Seeing as the time-stamp on Starblubber's post is April 17th, at 10:47pm. If the "illegal video" was on Curtis' site after that time, it was also on WinnipegPunks.

The irony here is that Starblubber thinks that Curtis should be jailed for the longest term allowable under the law. I suspect Starblubber's opinion will change a bit now that his own innocence is depends on Curtis'.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, YouTube

An interesting story is developing with local blogger Curtis Webb regarding his blog WinnipegTheft.com (h/t Dust My Broom).

The controversy surrounds this post. The accusation flying through the newspapers today is that Curtis broke the law by identifying a handful of dangerous young offenders, which bizarrely, is against the law in Canada.

The problem here is that Curtis didn't actually (as far as I can find) publish the names. He linked to a video on YouTube that ID'd them. So, if linking to a video is illegal, why isn't it illegal for newspapers to "link" to his website by writing about it? Just because the newspaper medium doesn't allow for clickable hot-links, they still achieve the same effect of driving traffic to a site.

One specific case boggles the mind.

The site also posted the photo of a 16-year-old suspect wanted in connection with the March 26 murder of Tom Phillips. A judge granted police and media special permission to publish the photo for a five-day period, which expired last weekend. The photo was still up on the website yesterday.

Of course it's still up on the website! The picture is still in every paper that published the picture as well. Did the local papers go around collecting and destroying every copy that contained the picture? Not bloody likely. So why should a blogger have to remove an old post? Would the photo published in the local papers not also be available in their archives?

What's really disturbing is the attempt to police blogs. Worse yet, is that "the law" is trying to hold a blogger to a stricter code. Best of luck to Curtis Webb, stop by his site and drop him a line.

Update: Winnipeg First reports that the Winnipeg Police are "investigating". By "investigating", apparently they mean sending intimidating e-mails.

Also, the Winnipeg Sun ran an online poll asking the question, "Should the media be allowed to identify young offenders?" At the momment, there have been 1181 responses to the poll, with a stagering 95% agreeing that media should be able to identify young offenders.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Real Life, Winnipeg Crime, YouTube

The thugs and gangsters really are taking over this fine city of Winnipeg, despite what Anita Neville has to say.

The judicial system in Manitoba has been ruined by social activist judges for years already. Every day you read the paper here, you'll see a killer getting off with time-served, or a serial pedophile recieving house-arrest. All the while, the police are too busy to prevent any crime because they're chasing chronic car thieves all around the city.

The last layer of defense for law-abiding citizens was the Crown, who prosecute criminals. But the thugs and scumbags are starting to undermine that department as well (link):

A senior Crown attorney is under police protection after four men allegedly armed with knives forced their way into the woman's Winnipeg home early Saturday - just hours after she got a phone message saying, "We're going to kill you."

It's an obvious attempt to undermine not just the Crown attorney's who prosecute cases, but the entire justice system. It's a clear message to judges, jurors, and prosecutors alike: "We can get to you".

The likely response in Manitoba will be, "No harm, no foul." Since the woman didn't get hurt, all is well. Unfortunately all is not well. While the woman may be fine physically, she's certainly going to be a little more stressed out on the job now. Particularly when she's prosecuting gang members, and it could easily cause her to slip up in her work.

And affect her work it will, this was no subtle warning to her. The woman has apparently lost her voice from screaming during the incident, and it has yet to return. These weren't street-punks that were sent to her home either, they were experienced criminals.

One of the four suspects, Alphonse Stanley Traverse, has been convicted of manslaughter. While on parole he plead guilty to breaking and entering. He has charges pending of assault and uttering threats and was out on bail at the time of this weekends incident.

Winnipegers might remember Alphonse Traverse from a couple years ago. He's one of those "Worlds Dumbest Criminal" types. He was in the news for breaking into a home and stealing almost $5000 worth of goods. The only problem was, his victim owned a pawn shop, and Traverse tried to sell the stolen goods there. Whoops.

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Manitoba, Winnipeg Crime

Jon Gerrard is starting to get close to understanding Winnipeg's auto-theft pandemic. But with most problems in our society, the politically correct bullshit gets in the way of the truth.

Doc Jon is getting close to understanding the problem. He's a doctor, he should know:

"People with FASD have brains that are wired differently from birth and they have real difficulty understanding consequences," Gerrard said.

"Diagnosed early and given support, they stay out of trouble."

What Doc Jon misses is that serial car-thieves and FASD kids have something else in common: bad parents.

To suggest that theres a link between parents who are pounding hooch at the local tavern when their 8-months pregnant, and parents who don't care that their son just got convicted for their 200th auto-theft is not a stretch. A mother who drinks while she's pregnant does not care for the welfare of her child. If a family cares so little for the health of their child, why would they care anymore about the child's safety fifteen years later when he's involved in high-speed police chases?

While many parents of FASD kids genuinely care about the kids' future and well-being, there are also those who don't. Parents who are letting their kids criminally run rampant on the streets should be held responsible for their childs actions.

What Doctor Jon needs to realize, is that this problem will not be solved with social programming or bribery. And while the Manitoba courts have been sad and pathetic in dealing with the problem, the federal government has done nothing to improve the YCJA. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Police, who do everything they can to stop these bastards, are losing the motivation to keep up the fight.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

The crime:

Police have caught three teens who they accuse of playing what Safioles called "some kind of sick game" where they tried to clip the runners with the car's mirrors.

Oh, and the car was stolen. Another example how the YCJA has failed the kid who was the ringleader, and failed society.

The 16-year-old driver is considered a Level 4 offender -- the highest rating under the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy. He has done jail time at the Manitoba Youth Centre and was on probation for auto theft offences, but had been missing for at least two weeks before his arrest Monday.

In Manitoba, you don't need to be a genius to find a young offender, who is a renowned car thief and should be charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter (link).

Police say in the early morning hours on Sunday, one of the 16 year olds allegedly stole a Jeep Cherokee in the Island Lakes area, dumped it and stole another vehicle.

He later allegedly stole a third vehicle, then police observed two cars speeding. They pursued the vehicles until a crash with a light standard near Nairn Avenue and Watt Street.

Because of the YCJA, the courts no longer have any control over out of control kids, and the general public knows it.

"It's good news that they've been arrested but I'm not sure the justice system will do anything to keep these kids off the streets," said Dennis Pickerl, who found one of the injured runners bleeding and staggering on Thursday. "The one fellow is already as prolific a car thief as they come and they still can't keep him behind bars. I'm not sure the police have all the tools they need."

Even the cops are sick and tired of the catch-and-release treatment, and have given up.

Three teenage boys face numerous charges in connection with a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent. The most serious charges laid are driving dangerously causing bodily harm.

Police said Tuesday that charges of attempted murder weren't laid because it was "pretty clear" that the suspects were not trying to kill the victims.

"It looks more like it was some sort of sick game where you might just want to hit them with the mirrors," Sgt. Doug Safioles said.

One jogger states the obvious.

Leilani Kagan, who was among several other joggers who dodged the stolen car, said she can't understand why more serious charges weren't laid.

"People are vulnerable in that they've got no weapons. They've got no form of defense. You've got them cornered between two high snow banks on a road and you're driving a vehicle toward them," she said.

"I find that hard to believe, that by doing that four times to us, and to all the other people out there that morning, that you weren't trying to kill them. I don't know what else could really result."

And the great news from Manitoba Justice is that this isn't over yet!

"Having it down to five kids is pretty significant in some ways," said Carolyn Brock, executive director of youth corrections for Manitoba Justice.

Brock said there are times when as many as a dozen such thieves are on the run.

And so the escalation continues. The kids steal more cars, and do more dangerous things with them. Meanwhile, the police and courts punish them less, and sometimes not at all.

It fails the kids most of all, which is sad because it creates more victims in the future. These kids don't understand how to function normally or productively in a civilized society. The courts do nothing to help them change.

The kid has committed a very serious crime here, and is old enough to do hard jail time. Because it will keep him from steal our cars for one, but it will also give him a good hard look at where a life of crime will get him.

---

In a somewhat related note, this is more of a question for people out there. Wellington Crescent, where this mayhem took place, has a sidewalk between the split-lanes. And it's very wide. But for some reason all the folks who run there seem to need to run on the road, and the dog-walkers are the only ones who use the sidewalk. Why in the hell is that?

I just want to know why they insist on running on the road. Why don't the joggers on Wellington run on the sidewalk?! I drive that road every damn day, and the street always has joggers on it, and I need to know why!

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime

Now, I'm not one to pat myself on the back normally... but boy did I nail this one.

A police affidavit released yesterday confirms every bit of speculation I previously made regarding Daniel Ian Anderson.

The gun he used to fire on cops was not one of the guns locked up in the basement, his girlfriend said he kept a "short barrel hunting gun" (to me, that means sawed-off shotgun) in his closet.

The police officers identified themselves very clearly, so Daniel, a previous victim of a home invasion and an unwarranted beating (ya, right!) would not have thought it was another home invasion.

Daniel's loving father also admitted to police that Daniel "associates with gang members".

So to all of you illiterate assholes who called me all kinds of names, and held up Danny as some kind of hero after my last post: kiss my ass, and stop defending this loser.

Labels: Daniel Anderson, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, Wish You Were Dead

I think that this city is on the verge of turning into a vigilante's wet-dream.

On Sunday night, Winnipeger Stanley Ross received the beating of his life. His attacker Samir Salihovic, beat him with a baseball bat, leaving Ross in a doctor-induced coma, with life-threatening brain damage.

It's the circumstances of the beating that are truly revealing. Ross and Salihvic were involved in a car accident, and an "altercation" ensued, leading to the savage assault.

The catch is, that Ross was driving a stolen car, and is a known serial car thief. However, Salihovic didn't have a clue that the car was stolen at the time of the beating.

Here comes the shocker: The Winnipeg Sun is running a poll (archive) on their website asking the question "Do you agree with some Sun readers that convicted car thief Stanley Ross got what he deserved?", and so far the Yes' are ahead with almost a 2-1 ratio.

The problem here is not what happened to Ross, it's how it happened. If a judge were to have handed down a sentence of beating-by-bat to Ross for car theft, I could support that. But thats now what happened here. Ross got a beating simply for being in a car accident, his assailant didn't know he was a car-thief, or that he was driving a stolen car.

The Sun tries to account for this lack of compassion by blaming it on the cities high rate of car theft, and the fact that the people who commit these crimes rarely face any real punishment, but I think the cause is deeper than that.

Rarely in this province does a criminal receive an adequate punishment for his crimes. Further evidence of this is in the same pages of the Sun today. Some douche-bag gets wasted, repeatedly slams a fifteen year-old girls head into the bathroom floor, fracturing her skull in the process, and his sentence? Six months of house arrest.

I think that this city has grown so sick and tired of seeing scumbags get off with a slap on the wrist, that most people are just happy one of them received some actual form punishment, even though it was administered for all the wrong reasons, in all the wrong ways.

I hope Ross makes a full recovery, but both of these guys deserve to do some serious jail time.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime

Last week, three Winnipeg police officers were shot while executing a drug warrant. The suspect is Daniel Anderson, who police believe to be a "loose associate" of the Zig-Zag Crew.

Yesterdays Winnipeg Free Press, the defender of scumbags nationwide, printed a stunning story penned by Gordon Sinclair portraying Daniel Anderson as the victim. It's behind the subscription wall, so I'll copy the "best parts" here.

Danny -- the son his father calls the most caring and considerate of his three boys -- faces attempted murder charges following a drug raid late Thursday night at the Anderson's Fort Rouge home. Three police officers were shot in the incident and hospitalized.
(snip)
It would be 24 hours before his family would hear from Danny again. He called from the Remand Centre about 11 p.m. Friday night.

Danny was crying, his father said.

"The first thing he was saying was, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know.'... He was concerned about his mother and myself and his girlfriend and he kept repeating, 'I didn't know, I didn't know.' "

What he "didn't know," according to his father, was that the people who rushed into the Andersons' house while Danny was there with his girlfriend and his mother were police officers executing a drug search warrant.

Poor kid, he was just trying to defend his mother and girlfriend - while he was blindly firing shots into their home.

But it's conceivable, given the suddenness of the event -- the pounding at the door and Bonnie Anderson's screaming as police burst in -- that Danny didn't hear them identify themselves before hiding in the main floor bathroom, from where he allegedly shot blindly from behind the door.
"He thought it was a home invasion or something," Monty Anderson said.

That could be understandable, given Danny's personal history in the same home.

Danny was at home, three or four years ago, his father said, when a group of men broke in reportedly looking for drugs and money.

The brothers and a friend managed to fight them off, his father said.

"You just don't forget stuff like that," Monty said.

But the 12 police officers involved in the raid Thursday would have no record of that event.

Monty said it wasn't reported.

According to Monty, he had three long rifles locked in the basement that are registered. If police had checked the registry, they presumably would have known about them.

One would think that should prompt the calling out of the better-armed and more experienced Emergency Response Unit.

But there's more to Danny's being victimized by violent people in large numbers.

About two years ago, the former Grant Park Pirates linebacker -- who stands over six feet and weighs more than 200 pounds -- was swarmed outside a Pembina Highway bar.

"They stabbed on his neck, on his face. They stabbed him in the chest."

Monty said his son was "in serious shape" after the attack.

"He was in the hospital for a week or two or three."

Those two incidents, Monty suggested, would be enough to spook anybody about large numbers of people suddenly breaking through one's door late at night.

Those two incidents also raise the question; Who doesn't report a home invasion to police? People with something to hide, thats who. I could understand, possibly, that the kids wouldn't want to call in the police, but what kind of mother and father would just let it slide by, when it was their own children who were attacked?

The answer to why police don't politely knock during drug raids, has to do with the element of surprise, and having a better chance of finding evidence before it is "flushed."

"Whatever they were looking for," Monty said, "it wasn't there."
Police asked Monty early Friday morning at the Public Safety Building if his son dealt marijuana from the house.

Monty said he told them not to his knowledge.

Coincidental that they found him in the bathroom then, is it not? You would also think that a father would deny the drug-dealing charges a little more vehemently, if he thought his denials had a chance of standing up under investigation. Update: Police have confirmed that drugs were found during the raid.

But, it should be mentioned, at least one of the Anderson sons is well known as a member of the drug underworld by young adults in affluent south Winnipeg neighbourhoods such as Tuxedo.

The Andersons' middle son, Darren, who turned 23 on the day of the raid, was arrested last January on drug and related charges and is expected to be released from jail at the end of the month.

Danny has no criminal convictions.

The reason his father contacted the Free Press was to stress that last fact.

"He isn't a gang affiliate or anything. He had some assorted friends who have gotten in trouble."

"People who know Danny know this isn't him," his dad said.

"He isn't a monster like everyone thinks," said his girlfriend of five years, Ashley Cochrane. "Anyone who knows Daniel knows this is not him."
His father echoes that: "Anybody who has ever met him has nothing but good things to say about him."

Now riddle me this; if the guns were locked up securely in the basement, as Daddy Dearest says, how did Danny have time to get to the basement, unlock the cabinet, grab a gun, load the gun, and still manage to get up to the bathroom and lock himself in? Or are we to believe that Daniel carries a rifle with him to the shitter?



A quick examination of the map of the house, raises some interesting questions. As the story goes, Danny was in his bedroom when he heard his mother screaming in the kitchen. He then promptly dashed across the hall, and locked himself in the bathroom.

Daddy Dearest says the guns were in the basement. As you can see from the map, to get to the basement, you'd have to go through the kitchen. The same kitchen where the cops entered the house. So clearly, Danny didn't fire the shots with any of the guns that were in the basement.

The other question that I'm just begging to hear an answer to is: Why run to the bathroom? If he truly thought it was a home invasion, his bedroom would have been a much safer place. I'll bet the gun was in his closet. And while his bedroom does have a window to escape from, the bathroom does not have a window. Why the bathroom?!

Even though Daddy Dearest is quick to point out that Danny has no prior convictions, his neighbors had their own suspicions (again, behind the Freep's subscription wall).

Numerous neighbours of the family said the back lane behind the house has received frequent vehicle traffic for the brothers throughout the day and night for the last decade.

Some said they had complained to police about the activity, but their complaints went unheeded.

One neighbour said Daniel Anderson simply stared at her when they encountered one another after she expressed displeasure with the nighttime traffic.

Since big brother was in jail on drug charges at the time of the shooting, I don't think it would be a stretch to think that Daniel had taken over Big Brothers operations while he was away.

Gordon Sinclair is at it again today, defending Danny's lifestyle. One neighbor recalled the house saying, "There was nice cars always coming there, Jaguars and other fancy cars that I admired. They had nice, beautiful girlfriends there at all times. I used to think how lucky they are. Tall, good looking. They have everything. You just never know what's cooking in your neighbor's home."

Sinclair defends this, by once again quoting Danny's father Monty, who seems to be Sinclair's only source on the story.

According to father Monty Anderson, 54, Daniel earned his living through online betting.

"He was into gambling," the elder Anderson told the Free Press. "He played on the Internet. Hold 'Em tournaments. Pro-Line."

In today's Freep article, Gordon Sinclair extensively quotes Daniel's defense lawyers (two of them), friends, and his father. Thats far from balanced reporting.

Also of note, today the Winnipeg Sun said Monty Anderson was unavailable for comment, yet Sinclair got an exclusive interview with him the day before. I find that a little too much to be coincidental. Especially after seeing how much blatant bullshit Sinclair has published on this subject in the last three days.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Daniel Anderson, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Police

Three Winnipeg Police Officers were shot last night, while on a drug bust.

Some 21-year old punk named Daniel Ian Anderson is responsible. His lucky ass is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Too bad he's not dead.

Labels: Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, Wish You Were Dead