THUNDER BAY – Police have identified the 22-year-old suspect in a late-night homicide on North Cumberland Street, the city's second murder in consecutive days.
Nathaniel Austin Wesley was arrested in conjunction with the incident, which left one man dead and another sent to hospital, who is currently in stable condition in the intensive care unit, with undisclosed injuries.
Wesley faces charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, breach of recognizance and breach of probation.
Det.-Sgt. Tracy Lewis could not confirm that a baseball bat was involved in the incident, despite an initial police media release that stated a man was on the ground after possibly being beaten with a bat.
Lewis said officers spent Thursday in the area collecting evidence.
"Part of the canvas process that's done each time involves the video collection. Officers are out doing that," Lewis said. "We always look for any kind of assistance from the public. If they have dash cam video, we're always looking for any type of business videos, if they have a camera on their residences, we're happy to take that video."
Lewis said Wesley was arrested in close proximity to the scene.
Wesley appeared in court on Thursday and was remanded into custody with a future court date. The name of the victim has not been released, pending notification of his next-of-kin. The second victim remains in intensive care in stable condition.
Police have circled a pair of buildings on North Cumberland Street with yellow police tape and are still holding the scene on Thursday afternoon.
This homicide comes less than 48 hours after a woman died after being found unresponsive on a County Fair area recreational pathway, which Lewis said are massive investigations.
"The same officers that were working on the previous homicide literally went home and got called back in (Wednesday) night to work on this one," Lewis said.
"Our uniform members, our criminal investigation members, each of our branches have worked so well together in this...They have worked day and night. All of us have been here day and night to work on these."
Police continue to hold both scenes, which Lewis added has an impact on their resources.
"Even though we have these existing scenes and existing homicide investigations, we still have a lot of 911 calls that come in," Lewis said. "There are several other incidents that have occurred overnight. The police have to respond to all of them. It just means more officers having to be called in on days off, having to stay outside of their shift hours to make sure that is covered."
