Random attack

An alleged random stabbing on the city’s south-side has some residents questioning the safety of their neighbourhood.

Thunder Bay Police Service officers responded to the reported stabbing at the corner of Marks and Arthur Streets just after 4 p.m. Tuesday. Police say the 24-year-old female victim did not appear to be known to the suspect, and that the assault was unprovoked.  

Police later arrested a 20-year-old woman near Donald Street and Syndicate Avenue. The suspect has been charged with aggravated assault and is expected to appear in a Thunder Bay courtroom on June 8.

"The victim was walking down the street and then approached by the accused and allegedly stabbed her with a knife," said police spokesman Chris Adams. "It is rare to see an assault of this nature that is random. A majority of assaults that occur and are investigated involve people that are known to each other."

The randomness of the incident has some people worried.

Glen Ritchie, 62, said he hasn’t felt safe in the city for a long time. He spoke to tbnewswatch.com on Wednesday afternoon and said about a year ago four people assaulted a family member of his outside an area restaurant.

Relatives of his were out drinking that night, but Ritchie insists the group didn’t provoke the assault.

Ever since that incident, he’s thought that the city has taken a turn for the worse.

"I don’t think I would go walking around at night," he said. "My mom lives just down the street and I tell her ‘if you go anywhere, you call me up.’ It’s not safe and some people don’t want to admit it."

Shayne Scott, 19, moved to the city recently from Kitchener, Ont., to start a painting business. He said the news of the stabbing gave him pause of concern about the safety of the area.

"What is the world coming to?" Scott asked. "It’s a pretty rough area. And in the area that I’m in the cops have been called a few times. It’s a little freaky but that’s the world now I guess."

But not everyone living in the area feel the same way.

Harriet Bennett has lived in Thunder Bay since 1981. She’s never given the safety of her neighbourhood much thought and said what happened the day before could have happened to anyone at any time.

"Something like that is random," Bennett said. "All of the stuff that goes on around here is strange but you can’t walk around being scared all the time. No one would leave their house. It’s bad enough that you don’t want to send your kids to the corner store even if they are 10 years old."
Another woman, who did not want to give her name, said she was shocked to learn that the stabbing took place close to the parking lot of the Arthur Street Spence Clinic.

Despite that fact, she said that overall she felt safe coming out of the clinic.

"I don’t feel any different but it is kind of scary hearing something like that," she said. "But it happens in other places too I bet."