Winnipeg teen survives bullies' shed fire

A 14-year-old Winnipeg boy suspects young bullies targeted his disability when they trapped him in a playground shed and set it ablaze on Saturday.

Brian McKay was born with spina bifida, a disorder that affects early spinal cord development. As a result, he walks with a pronounced limp.

Joseph Bird, left, saved Brian McKay, 14, from inside a burning shed after the teen was allegedly locked inside by some children.
(CBC)

The teen was at a playground in a Manitoba Housing complex on Gilbert Avenue in the Gilbert Park neighbourhood when a group of children, between ages eight and 11, forced him into a shed and locked him inside, police allege.

The shed was then set on fire and the children fled the scene, they say.

Three other younger children tried to pry the shed's doors open and rescue McKay.

Nine-year-old Shaneil Keesic said Sunday she and her sister Desiree, 8, along with another girl, did their best to get McKay out of the smoke-filled shed.

"We didn't know what to do," Shaneil said. "So we just went in there and tried to help him because no one was watching him; no one wanted to help him."

"He was just laying on the floor. He was coughing a lot," she added. "And I told him to get up, get out, and then I saw my neighbour.…"

Rescued just in time

Joseph Bird, 39, was visiting his girlfriend a few houses away when he heard the children yelling.

"My first reaction was, 'Whoa, get the kids away from there.' And then I was surprised that there was that little guy right in there," Bird said Sunday after pulling the teenage boy to safety.

"It's a good thing we were here when we were. Otherwise a little child would have passed away."

Brian and one of his young rescuers were treated for smoke inhalation and released.

'I was born different. So, they made fun of me.'-Brian McKay, explaining why he became a target

"It was just amazing … someone was, like, protecting me," Brian said Sunday, standing by the shed a day after the incident.

He said while he hasn't recovered from his brush with death, he knows why the four young children would want to hurt him.

"Because they know I was weak," he said. "I was born different. So, they made fun of me. I was born with spina bifida … it's something that affects the legs."

'It's like a bad dream': grandmother

Meanwhile, Brian's grandmother said Monday she has second thoughts about staying in the neighbourhood — one that she had moved into less than a month earlier.

Elsie Moar said she had moved into the Gilbert Park neighbourhood because accommodations in the area have low rent and received Brian into her care as recently as a week ago.

On Monday, Moar was trying to understand what happened to Brian. At first, she feared he had caused the fire, but panicked when she learned what really happened.

"They told me then that he was the one there that was locked up in the shed," she said. "It's like a bad dream."

Moar said her grandson is recovering from an ordeal she described as vicious and mean-spirited.

"I checked up on him; he was sleeping soundly, like nothing happened to him," she said.

"Then it hit me again … he's a child and I'm an adult. I get more emotional when I think about it. I could have lost him there."

Moar said the low rent is not worth the trouble she and her family have endured, and she hopes they can move out of the area very soon.

Police give warnings to children responsible

The Winnipeg Police Arson Strike Force is now investigating the incident. Investigators continued to interview suspects on Monday, said Sgt. Kelly Dennison.

"I don't know if we've found all of the suspects or not. I know the arson unit is currently still looking into that. They have interviewed a number of young people in relation to this," Dennison said Monday.

As the shed in question was torn down Monday, police said the children who were identified as being involved in the incident were given warnings as they are too young to be formally charged.

Police added all the children will likely go through the province's Turnabout program, which helps children under the age of 12 that come in conflict with the law.

Dennison said the arson task force has investigated several incidents in the Gilbert Park neighbourhood, including garbage bins and houses being set on fire. However, Dennison said they are particularly disturbed by the fact that, in this case, a young teenage boy was the victim.