An 18-year-old male from Windsor is dead and a 17-year-old male is in custody as a result of a stabbing incident in Belle River.
Lakeshore OPP were called around 9:50 p.m. Thursday about an altercation in the area of Cooper Crescent and Lenore Street.
Police said they found several people had sustained injuries. One male’s injuries were fatal.
A 17-year-old male from Lakeshore was arrested.
According to OPP, those involved “may be known to each other,” and it appears that the altercation was not a random act.
Police have described the case as a murder investigation, led by the Essex County OPP crime unit.
Multiple units were sent to the scene in response to the incident, including tactical officers and police dogs.
On Friday morning, crime scene tape remained strung up at the end of Lenore Street, next to a forested area.
At least seven OPP vehicles were posted in the neighbourhood, and an officer with a police dog patrolled the street.
An OPP canine unit patrols Lenore Street on July 14, 2017. A fatal altercation involving teens occurred in the woods nearby the night before.
Linda-Lee Cassidy and her husband Brian, who live on Lenore, said they were watching TV around 9:30 p.m. Thursday when a distraught teenage girl showed up at their home.
“She came to the door crying and screaming,” Cassidy said. “She told us her boyfriend had been stabbed.”
The young woman called police on her cellphone, but soon returned to the forest.
The Cassidys said the forested area near their home is known to locals as an unofficial party place for young people.
Anyone with information about the incident or the parties involved is asked to call investigators immediately at 519-723-2491.
Anonymous tips can be made via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
More to come.
— With files from Trevor Wilhelm and Kelly Steele
Members of the Essex County OPP crime unit investigate the scene of a fatal altercation in Belle River near Lenore Street on the night of July 13, 2017.
OPP officers gather near Lenore Street in Belle River to investigate the death of an 18-year-old Windsor male on the night of July 13, 2017.
Linda-Lee and Brian Cassidy of Belle River talk about the frantic female who came to their door on the night of July 13, 2017.
OPP officers gather near Lenore Street in Belle River to investigate the death of an 18-year-old Windsor male on the night of July 13, 2017.
The wooded area at the end of Lenore Street in Belle River on July 14, 2017.
OPP vehicles remain on Lenore Street in Belle River on July 14, 2017.
Residents of Lenore Street in Belle River gather on July 14, 2017, to talk about the fatal incident that happened in the nearby woods the night before.
