Winnipeg cabbie hit in shoulder as shots fired at taxi

A Winnipeg cabdriver is recovering from a bullet wound after his cab was shot at near theintersection of Gateway Road and Munroe Avenue earlySunday morning.

Unicity Taxi presidentGurmail Mangat said one of his cab driverstook a bulletin the shoulder after someone in acar started firing at his vehicle.

Mangat said the cab was dispatchedto an address on Henderson Highway, where the driver picked up two men and one woman who asked to be taken to the Superstore on Gateway.

He said the customers couldn't find who they wanted to meet there and asked to go to Munroe. That's when he saw acar startfollowing them; it stopped, and shots were fired at the cab.

"They fired six rounds," Mangatsaid.

Mangat said the menand woman in the cab fled on foot. The driver called 911 for help and fled the scenefor the downtown where he met police and paramedics, he said.

Winnipeg police had several blocks surrounding the intersection of Gateway Road andMunroeAvenueclosed off to traffic early Sunday.

Sundayafternoon, police including the K-9 and tactical unit wereon scene atMidwinter Avenue to Brazier Street in Elmwoodin what was described as "a serious incident" on the Winnipeg police Twitter account. At least one person was taken into custody and police have asked the public toavoid the area.

Police haven't responded to multiplerequests by CBC for information about either incident, including whether they could be linked.

Several witnesses that spoke to CBC said they heard what sounded like at least three gunshots sometime before 7 a.m.

Bountheung Khoutxaysana said she heard gunshots around 6:20 a.m. while lying in bed.

"I heard this morning, the gun three, four times," she said. "I [woke] up really, really scared."

She said she saw three people run behind Munroe and a car take off.

Kendra Inglis said her daughter had been driving in the area with a car that kept stalling early Sunday morning.

It stalled again near Gateway and Munroe.

"They heard gunshots, her and her friends heard gunshots," Inglis said.

"And three people came running towards them."

"It's scary that at five in the morning, six in the morning, when people are trying to get ready for work, that this kind of stuff is transpiring," Inglis said.

Two police officers could be seen going in and out of a house near the scene Sunday morning. Police were interviewing witnesses inside Mom & Dad's Foodstore at the corner of the intersection and aK-9unit was parked outside.