Canada - Another biker firebomb in Winnipeg

OFF THE WIRE
WINNIPEG - The latest apparent flare-up in the city's biker war Tuesday saw another suspected firebombing, coming just hours after neighbours reported hearing at least one gunshot.

The city's arson strike force is investigating after a suspicious fire about 2 p.m. at the same home that was targeted last month when a flare gun was fired through a window. Sources have told QMI Agency the home is linked to a high-ranking member of the Redlined Support Crew, which is affiliated to the Manitoba chapter of the Hells Angels.

The Redlined and the Rock Machine have been locked in a battle over turf in Winnipeg. For more than two weeks, there have been a series of arsons and shootings in various neighbourhoods across the city.

Numerous police officers and fire investigators worked in and around the stucco Elmwood bungalow Tuesday afternoon, which had at least four surveillance cameras mounted under the eaves. Investigators marked numerous pieces of evidence with yellow tags and photographed the back of the home, which showed signs of fire damage.

Hours earlier, residents of the Weston neighbourhood reported hearing at least one gunshot.

Officers arrived at the area mid-morning and surrounded a rental home whose soon-to-be former tenants have ties to the Rock Machine.

A neighbour, Geraldine, who only wants to be known by her first name out of fear of retribution, said she heard a single shot about 10:30 a.m. The area, she said, has seen its share of trouble lately -- the same home was shot up exactly two weeks earlier.

"The neighbours are scared. They're really scared. As you can see, we've got kids and the elderly," Geraldine said, motioning to three boys sitting on the curb, watching police comb through the home and the yard.

A pair of bullet holes were visible Tuesday in a front window of the home, however, the damage might not have been done that day, but weeks earlier.

On June 28, no one was hurt when the home was blasted with gunfire. It came the day after the flare gun was shot through the window of the same home that was targeted Tuesday.

As of mid-afternoon Tuesday, Winnipeg police said in an e-mail the reports of the shots at the Weston home appeared to be "unfounded," but no other details were available.

Neighbours said no one was inside Tuesday when police had the home surrounded and that the woman who had been renting the place was in the process of moving out.
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