Man accused of attacking pastor discharged from hospital despite warnings, brother says
The older brother of a man charged with attacking a pastor at a Winnipeg church says his brother was discharged from hospital even after he warned a doctor and nurses that the man had been hearing voices telling him to kill a priest.
The man, whom CBC is not naming because he’s concerned about his own and his brother’s safety, says his brother texted him on Jan. 11, while he was hospitalized.
“Do you know why I am in the hospital?” said a text that was seen by CBC. “Because I hear voices to kill a priest to save my own life.… I feel I am threatened and my life is in danger.”
A man went to the front of Holy Ghost Parish on Selkirk Avenue during a service on Feb. 9 and advanced at the pastor, video from the livestreamed service shows. The pastor quickly moved away and the man drove a knife into the table that serves as an altar and sat down in a chair behind it before being restrained by parishioners, including an off-duty RCMP officer.
The accused man’s brother decided to speak to the CBC because he believes the attack could have been prevented if his brother had received proper care.
The man said after he got the text about killing a priest, he called Health Sciences Centre and told the nurse in charge that his brother was “unstable, sick and a danger to society.”
The man says two days later, he got another message from his brother, saying the hospital was discharging him.
“I just met with the doctor. I told her I still feel threatened and if I leave the hospital I will murder someone in self defense,” the text said.
Moments later, he received another message, saying “good news, they’re letting me out.”
The man said he called the hospital again on Jan. 13 and spoke to his brother’s doctor, who he says explained the reason for discharging him.
“I explained to her and read the message again,” he said.
“I said, are you guys letting him out? And this is what she responded to me, quote, he was able to fill out all forms correctly and has been through the system many times,” the brother said, referring to notes he took.
Shared Health, the agency that oversees Health Sciences Centre, would not confirm the man was a patient at the hospital due to privacy rules.
However, it did say that in general, “Discharge is based on the assessments and ongoing treatment needs of each patient as deemed appropriate by the treating physician/psychiatrist.”
‘It’s a horror’
The man said his family have been going to the Holy Ghost Parish on Selkirk Avenue for years.
“I feel so bad for the priest. I feel absolutely horrible for the people at the mass, because they witnessed it all this time. It’s a horror. It’s a tragedy. It must be very traumatizing. It’s horrible, but then our medical team let him out.”
His brother had been living in Europe since 2020 but moved back to Winnipeg just before Christmas, he said. He stayed with his mother for a few days and since then, has been living in a shelter, as he wanted to be on his own.
The last time he communicated with his brother was via the texts from the hospital on Jan. 13, he said.
He hopes his brother can now get the help he needs.
“Once he’s on medication, he will stabilize. He will see the world like you and I and he can make the right choices.”
Winnipeg police say nobody was hurt after a man tried to attack a pastor with a knife during a Sunday evening church service
He wants the health minister to ensure his brother’s care is thoroughly reviewed.
“There might be someone else tomorrow like him. There might be someone else a month from now. And I don’t want other people to get hurt.”
Shared Health would not say whether it is investigating the man’s release.
In a statement sent to CBC, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara called the incident “alarming and a terrifying experience for all those present.”
They wouldn’t comment on the man’s mental health care.
“Individual patients’ care plans are decisions made at a clinical level, and it would be inappropriate for me to speculate on this particular case. It’s important that clinical decision-making rests with experts across our health-care system,” the statement said.
System ‘stressed and strained’
Marion Cooper, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association Manitoba and Winnipeg, says people with mental illness need to be helped with early intervention and family support.
“In these situations, we still are struggling to put together the range of services and supports to be able to respond in timely ways. When people are struggling with behaviours and violence and are involved in community interactions, that is very concerning and creates a lot of unsafety.”
The health system needs to be improved because people with mental illness are being discharged too quickly and not “with the stabilization that’s required,” she said.
“Inpatient resources are under pressure to have short admissions, because there are a lot of people waiting for that kind of service. It’s symptomatic of a system that’s very stressed and strained and not functioning well.”
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