After fire extinguisher mayhem, Manitoba Housing tenant renews calls for more security

A tenant who's spoken out in the past about safety issues at his building is calling for increased security and an urgent meeting with Manitoba Housing officials after a man unleashed a fire extinguisher and fire hose at him and all over the building on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, John Dunnec was at one of the computers in the common area of the Manitoba Housing complex at 444 Kennedy Street.

At around 11:40 a.m., Dunnec said, a man wandered into the room.

"The guy comes in, he was basically a zombie, you could tell he was high as a kite," he said.

"I asked him, do you live here? He babbled something incoherent. He's almost in a psychosis, I would say."

Dunnec, who lives with end-stage renal disease and goes to dialysis three times a week, spoke to the CBC about the crime and lack of cleanliness in the building in May.

"I'm not here to fight people. I wouldn't have a problem defending myself if I wasn't sick," said Dunnec.

The building used to have a security guard 24/7, he says, but now there's only security overnight.

"His eyes are just dilated, his mouth is open, he's like a kid at Disneyland. He spots the fire extinguisher and the fire hose at the back of the room. He sees it. He walks over to it. I go, 'oh no."

He points it at me, he fires it at me! Fires the extinguisher at me! The room filled up with it within a matter of seconds.- Dunnec

Dunnec said he got up to try to dissuade the man from touching the extinguisher, but it was too late.

"He points it at me, he fires it at me! Fires the extinguisher at me! So I was kind of blinded. The whole room filled up with the chemical. The room filled up with it within a matter of seconds."

"You literally could not see your hand in front of your face."

Tenant renews calls for security after police visit Manitoba Housing complex 25 times in the last month

7 years ago

Duration 2:17

A tenant who's spoken out in the past about safety issues at his building is calling for increased security and an urgent meeting with Manitoba Housing officials after a man unleashed a fire extinguisher and fire hose at him and all over the building on Sunday.

Dunnec left the room and called 911 at 11:48 a.m., then texted his neighbour, Chris Vee, for backup. He came downstairs from his suite with protection.

"I have a certain pair of gloves that are Kevlar, so I can grab a knife if possible, and it won't cut me," said Vee, whose real last name is not being used to protect his identity.

Vee, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, said the room on the main floor was so thick with chemicals when he entered, he thought there was a fire. He also called the Manitoba Housing security line twice, then 911.

"He was either high on meth or the Flakka that's here, so I thought, well let's contain this, and contain him," he said.

He closed the doors to the common areas just as the man grabbed the fire hose, pointed it at him and turned it on.

"He was flooding the place, there was four inches of water in this room here," Vee said.

"Things are flying, he's yelling incoherently, I hear windows smashing, because he smashed a window," said Dunnec.

Vee phoned 911 again at around 12:15 p.m. and told police the man was now "tearing the place apart," breaking windows and flooding the building.

911 escalated call

"A 45-minute wait? That's ridiculous," saidVee.

According to Winnipeg police, that's when the Priority 3 call escalated to a Priority 2, and a patrol unit with two officers arrived within minutes.

Even though the tactical unit, fire and paramedics and other uniformed officials all arrived shortly after, Dunnec credited the first two officers on scene with de-escalating the situation.

Dunnec said as the officers approached, the man asked "Where's my bag of meth?"

One of the officers grabbed a small bag of candy canes lying in the common room from the Christmas party the night before.

"He just holds it out there, 'Look, we've got your meth right here,' and he shakes it, and he [the man] puts his hand in there, and he stops to get it, and he apprehended him," saidDunnec.

Throughout the ordeal, he'd been afraid of what the man would've done if he had a weapon, or got ahold of one.

"They apprehended him without a fight, which is a miracle."

A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Police Service says the man is now in custody and is facing four charges: mischief over $5,000, false alarm for a fire and two counts of failure to comply with a police officer.

Police visited 25 times last month

In the past month, Winnipeg police have visited 444 Kennedy 25 times.

"What happened on Sunday, it's the final straw. It hit its peak and I'm tired of it, quite frankly.'- Dunnec

Dunnec is tired of feeling unsafe, but stuck, where he lives, and said this incident is the final straw. He wants a security person on-site 24/7.

"Security. Just one guy, who can take action," he said. The security service contracted out by Manitoba Housing are only able to supervise and make calls, he said, but the Manitoba Housing security personnel can physically intervene.

"These concerns have been raised many, many, many times over the years to lower management, middle management, we recently sent a letter to a higher-up at Manitoba Housing," he said.

He wants those managers to meet with tenants to discuss their fears, and possible solutions, as he said many have ideas that wouldn't cost much.

"These concerns have been growing and growing, and what happened on Sunday, it's the final straw. It hit its peak and I'm tired of it, quite frankly."

A spokesperson for Manitoba Housing said the security branch will meet with the tenants in conjunction with the Winnipeg Police Service to hear their concerns, and will provide a date shortly.

The spokesperson said there's only security in the building overnight because that's when most of the call-outs occurred, and there are currently no plans to change this.

A mobile security call response is also available "24/7/365," according to the spokesperson. But on Sunday, the Manitoba Housing security response arrived after police, said Dunnec.

The common area at 444 Kennedy Street, which provides food services and leisure, is now cordoned off with security tape.

The four computers, bought by the tenants' advisory committee, are ruined, as is the pool table and donated flat-screen TV.

But a sense of security is what Dunnec misses most, and wants Manitoba Housing to step up, especially since most of his disability cheque goes to them each month.

"They're not holding up their end."