Paramedics work on a man who witnesses said was shot by police in the West Broadway area on Sunday morning. (James Turner/CBC)Winnipeg police shot and killed a suspect outside a West Broadway apartment block on Sunday.

Const. Jason Michalyshen said police were called to the back lane near 143 Langside St. just before 9 a.m. CT.

There were reports that a man was seen breaking into a home, police said.

Police responded to the area, located the man and he was shot.

Police identified him as Lance Muir, 42, of Winnipeg.

Police have not yet commented on the circumstances that led to Muir's shooting, but said officers were confronted in some manner by him.

Michalyshen couldn't confirm how many times Muir was hit, or if more than one officer fired at him.

He was rushed to hospital in critical condition but died, police said.

Officers were overheard trying to comfort Muir as he was being treated at the scene and paramedics were seen pumping Muir's chest as they placed him in an ambulance.

4 shots heard

Neighbours in the area said they heard shouting and then four shots in rapid succession. They also said a witness saw a man in the back lane carrying a pillow and a crowbar prior to the shooting.

"I heard a woman screaming stop, stop, stop the car and then a crashing sound," said Ian Waters, who lives just down the block from where the shooting happened.

'[He was] upbeat on some days and on other days very, very depressed. Daily life ground him down.'—Lance Muir's roommate

A smashed-up Cadillac was seen crashed into a telephone pole next to the area where emergency crews were treating Muir.

Police couldn't say how the vehicle was related to the shooting or if they suspected it was stolen.

Muir lived just a couple of blocks away from the scene and his roommate, who asked not to be identified, said Muir had a troubled past that involved criminal convictions.

"[He was] upbeat on some days and on other days very, very depressed. Daily life ground him down," the roommate said.

Police confirmed they had many contacts with Muir over the years. In 1996, he was involved in an attempted murder of a member of the Spartans motorcycle gang, to which Muir also belonged.

"Everything he tried seemed to blow up in his face — just to even earn a living," his roommate said.

Several squad cars blocked off an area of Langside Street near Sara Avenue as a large number of officers investigated.

The homicide squad has been called in to assist in the investigation.

Under provincial law, a public inquest will be called into the man's death because he died as a result of police actions.

Muir's death marks the second police-involved shooting fatality in 2010.

Police investigate the scene of a shooting Sunday in a back lane in the West Broadway neighbourhood. (James Turner/CBC)