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WINNIPEG — Police have charged a teen boy in the stabbing death of a 14-year-old Indigenous girl last week. 

A 17-year-old boy is facing second-degree murder charges and is in custody, they said in a news release Tuesday. 

The girl was with a group, including the accused, on Friday afternoon when she was stabbed a block away from police headquarters and near a busy corner of downtown Winnipeg. 

Police said the victim was with two females and a male she knew when she got into a verbal argument with the accused. 

Investigators allege the accused pulled a knife on the girl and stabbed her multiple times before fleeing. 

Officers who responded to the stabbing found the teen in the entrance of a building and applied a chest seal while they waited for an ambulance to arrive, police have said. 

She underwent emergency surgery, but didn't survive. 

Officers identified and found the suspect in the St. Boniface neighbourhood on Monday. 

Premier Wab Kinew offered his condolences to "those involved in this tragic event" in a social media post after the charge was announced. 

"Violence among our youth has to stop," he said. "We need to protect them and put them on a path to success so that more youth can reach their 18th birthday."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2023. 

The Canadian Press