WINNIPEG - Winnipeg police are investigating a possible case of vigilante justice after a woman died following a shoplifting incident at a family-owned convenience store.
Police say Geraldine Beardy was involved in a theft at the store Sept. 13 and was confronted by an employee. The 29-year-old woman was hit in the upper body with a weapon and fled to a nearby home, said Const. Jason Michalyshen. She died five days later in hospital.
Police would not say what the stolen grocery item was, but a friend of the woman's says it was a can of luncheon meat.
An unnamed 61-year-old man has been arrested and faces charges of aggravated assault, Michalyshen said.
A family friend wants to see that charge upgraded to reflect the seriousness of the alleged crime and the fact that Beardy died. But since police were not notified of the incident until two days later, Michalyshen said investigators are still trying to determine if there's a link between the alleged beating and Beardy's death. No cause of death has yet been released.
"We have to make that connection and we haven't made that connection yet," he said. "We have a number of people that we need to interview at this point."
There were witnesses to the incident, but Michalyshen said it's difficult trying to piece the case together days after the fact. They don't know what Beardy did after the shoplifting incident, before her condition deteriorated.
Police can't assume Beardy's fatal injuries were caused by the alleged beating and lay a more serious charge of manslaughter or second-degree murder, he said.
"We need to be able to substantiate that charge," Michalyshen said. "It's a little bit more challenging ... We don't know who she had contact with between the 13th and the 12th (when) she was hospitalized. She could have had contact with other individuals."
The Winnipeg Free Press reported that Beardy was the girlfriend of Chris Harper, 32, who drowned earlier this month despite the efforts of Winnipeg's so-called "Homeless Hero" to save him.
Faron Hall, 44, an admitted alcoholic, was homeless and living along the banks of the Red River when he first made headlines last April by risking his life to save a drowning teenager.
At the beginning of September, he and three friends -- including Beardy -- were drinking and fooling around by the river when a 19-year-old girl went in and Harper jumped in to try and help her.
However, as Harper struggled against the fast-moving water, Hall jumped in as well and managed to pull the teenager out but couldn't help Harper.
On Tuesday, relatives were making arrangements to bring Beardy's body back to her family home on the Garden Hill First Nation, a remote northern reserve about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. A man who answered the phone at Beardy's mother's home declined to comment about her death.
Grand Chief David Harper, a close friend of Beardy's family, said aggravated assault isn't a strong enough charge given that someone lost their life. Beardy was in Winnipeg for medical reasons, Harper said, adding she also struggled with alcohol use.
Her family is taking her death "very hard," he said.
"We heard this was all over a can of Klik," said Harper, chief of Garden Hill reserve. "This was too harsh. When do you charge someone with aggravated assault when death occurs? Justice has to be the same for everybody."
Harper said they are consulting a lawyer now and will take "whatever steps we have to take."
A man reached at the Winnipeg convenience store, who identified himself as the store owner but didn't give his name, said he couldn't talk about the incident until a court date in November.
"At that time, you can ask me," he said in broken English.
Although they are still trying to determine precisely what happened in this case, police are warning people not to take matters into their own hands.
"We have a situation here where there was a theft. We don't want anybody to become involved in any type of physical confrontation if it's not necessary as far as protecting one's safety," Michalyshen said.
"Physical confrontations, obviously we're not going to be condoning anything like that."
