High-profile crimes

 

by Evan Mathias

 

A pair of murders, stabbings, breaks and enters and most recently a shooting that sent two people to hospital. Windsor has seen its fair share of high profile crimes in recent weeks.

The Major Crimes Unit has been deployed on many of these investigations, many of the cases overlapping one another. These cases include the murders of Cassandra Kaake on Benjamin Ave. and the murder of Carol Shaw at 475 Bruce Ave. in late February.

“At any given time they’re working on a lot of different projects, our Major Crimes Unit,” said Const. Andrew Drouillard of the Windsor Police. “We’ve got a lot of detectives in that unit so they’re working on various assignments.”

Police are still investigating the shooting that happened in the municipal parking lot, across the street from the 7-Eleven at the corner of Wyandotte and Langlois on March 7.

“Obviously when there’s a crime involving a firearm its very serious and we take it very seriously, like I said our Major Crimes Unit was out on this,” said Drouillard. “They’re investigating and looking into it the best they can.”

Despite the vicinity of the shooting to 7-Eleven, Marvan Jajo, a regular at the store, said it wouldn’t deter him from going to that location.

“Everyday I go buy something from 7-Eleven,” said Jajo, who was working at the Bassam barbershop across the street from the scene. “I was working at the barber but I don’t hear anything.”

No arrests have been made in relation to the shooting. Police are looking for two suspects, both described as white males with olive skin. One suspect is in his forties with a full beard, the other in his twenties and clean-shaven.

Drouillard said no new evidence has come forward so far.

He added that violent crimes like this are concerning for police and it’s something that they are looking into.

“We have the resources and we allocate the resources accordingly,” said Drouillard.

While there have been headline making incidents being investigated frequently by the MCU, the crime rate is down according to Drouillard.

“They’re definitely busy, that’s for sure, but policing in general is like a roller coaster. There’s anomalies like the ones you’re speaking of, where you’re really busy,” said Drouillard. “In general crime is down actually, but these anomalies sometimes give you the impression that crime is up.”

The message police are sending to residents in relation to violent crimes is a simple one.

“We just like to remind people to remain vigilant, if they see suspicious behavior or activity to call us, let us know,” said Drouillard.

Police are encouraging anyone with information on any of these crimes to call Crime Stoppers.