Murder a surprise to many Villa Street and area residents

THUNDER BAY -- Some Villa Street residents say they were surprised to hear the news that a murder happened in their quiet neighbourhood.

The city’s sixth homicide investigation of 2012 began after 7 p.m. Saturday when a homeowner returned home to find a 23-year-old-man and a 25-year-old-man unconscious. Both were taken to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences where the 25-year-old was pronounced dead.

The 23-year-old man remains in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

Most residents that spoke to tbnewswatch.com Monday said their neighbourhood was quiet with nothing too suspicious going on.

Albert Byers recently moved into a house next door to where the homicide took place. Since moving in, he said he hasn’t seen anything out of the ordinary besides one instance where a woman ran out of the home yelling, but she then went back inside.

Other than that, Byers believes the neighbourhood is a fairly quiet place to live.

“I don’t feel any different,” he said. “Nothing really has changed. It doesn’t matter what neighbourhood you live in stuff like that can happen anywhere. I’ve traveled all over the world and neighbourhoods don’t matter. It’s what you make of it.”

One neighbour, who refused to give his name, has lived in the area for 15 years and said since one troublesome home burned down about a year ago the street has been quiet. Although the news of the murder came as a surprise to him, the man said he still feels safe in his neighbourhood.

Joyce Waswa moved into the neighbourhood three weeks ago and heard from her landlord that the area was a good place to live.

“Nothing happens in the neighbourhood,” Waswa said. “I felt very comfortable about that. I guess now you have to be a bit more cautious about where you live especially when you have kids. I have high school students that live with me and I always tell them about safety.”

Thunder Bay Police Service acting Det. Insp. Don Lewis said they are not prepared to release the name of the victim until all next of kin have been notified.

He explained that both men had cuts on their bodies but police still haven’t determined what kind of weapon was used.

The autopsy is on hold until the decision is made on where it will take place.

“There’s likely to be other people involved in this incident, however, until we’re finished locating all the witnesses and potential suspects were not able to determine an exact number just yet,” he said. “Police have been to that property before on a number noise complaints in the past.”

Although there’s been no arrests, Lewis added that they have a few persons of interests and will continue their investigation.

 

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