The days following the horrific shooting at a Winnipeg rooming house were marked by a desperate flight and a chilling confession. Jamie Felix, accused in the deaths of five people, sought refuge at his grandmother’s home, a temporary haven before the weight of his actions consumed him.
His former girlfriend, the key witness in the trial, painted a heartbreaking portrait of a man spiraling out of control. Their three-year relationship was shadowed by Felix’s increasingly severe seizures, exacerbated by a deepening addiction to drugs and alcohol. She described a man she loved, yet one she watched slip further away.
The day after the November 2023 shootings, she went to find him. What she found wasn’t defiance, but a broken man. He collapsed into her arms, sobbing and trembling, and uttered the words that would forever alter their lives: “I killed people.”
The truth unfolded in fragments, a slow and agonizing reveal of the events leading up to the tragedy. Felix had been at the rooming house, a place known for its illicit activity, feeling trapped and uneasy. He felt he had nowhere else to turn.
Their relationship had fractured before the shooting, strained by his secret drug use. She’d discovered him smoking crack in her car, a betrayal that led to him leaving. But he returned, desperate and disoriented, stealing her car and her son’s phone before ultimately surrendering to police.
He confessed to days spent within the rooming house walls, lost in a haze of crack cocaine and alcohol, deprived of sleep. On the morning of the shooting, he described a palpable tension, a sense that something was terribly wrong. His father, brother, and sister were all present, and he felt they were all acting strangely.
The court has heard testimony about the family’s involvement with gangs and drugs, a dangerous world that seemed to envelop Felix. He was given a gun and a bulletproof vest by his brother, a gesture that left him feeling like a pawn, a weapon to be used against others.
He briefly left with his father, then returned to the rooming house, and then the unthinkable happened. Five lives were brutally cut short: Crystal Beardy, Stephanie Beardy, Melelek Lesikel, Dylan Lavallee, and Shawn Marko. Two died immediately, two succumbed to their injuries in hospital, and Marko fought for 18 months before finally losing his life.
Felix maintains his innocence, pleading not guilty to five counts of second-degree murder. Yet, his former girlfriend testified that he admitted the shooting was a blur, followed by a desperate attempt to end his own life – a gun with no bullets remaining.
Witnesses have testified that Felix was on medication for seizures and warned against mixing it with drugs or alcohol. His girlfriend, also an epileptic, described witnessing his terrifying seizures, the disorientation, the loss of control.
She spoke of a loving partner haunted by the death of his twin brother, a loss he believed was connected to a drug deal orchestrated by their father. This grief, she suggested, fueled his descent into addiction and ultimately, the events that led to the devastating shooting.
