Man shot dead by Winnipeg police after chase had 'troubled' past, was in and out of jail: family

A man shot to death by Winnipeg police this week had been released from jail just months earlier and was celebrating with a friend, who investigators say led police on a cross-border manhunt before being captured in Saskatchewan.

In a March photo posted on his Facebook page, Tristan Mariash, 30, is seen toasting with David Frank Burling, 29, with the caption "feels good to be out." A video Mariash posted about a week ago with both men refers to the two as "brothers."

Family confirmed Mariash was the man who died after being shot following a police pursuit across a swath of southern Manitoba early Wednesday morning.

"There's such little information," his father, Cory Krivoshea, told CBC News on Friday. "There's so many questions.… Nobody should've died for running from the police.

Winnipeg police began the pursuit shortly after midnight Wednesday, when they spotted a pickup truck that had been reported stolen in the west end of the city.

The police service's helicopter tracked the Ford F-350 for about an hour, before it ended up in Otterburne, south of Winnipeg, where a police cruiser was rammed by the stolen vehicle. An "engagement" followed, in which police fired their guns, and the suspects fled in the truck, Winnipeg police said.

The chase led police north to a gas station in Niverville around 3 a.m., where the driver of the stolen truck got into another vehicle and fled.

Mariash was found inside the Ford with a gunshot wound. Winnipeg police said he died from his injuries before an ambulance arrived.

Following the shooting, a search ensued for Burling that led RCMP to the area of Springside, Sask., just northwest of the city of Yorkton, where they arrested him.

Both men have lengthy criminal records.

Court records show Burling had five convictions for fleeing from police in the past, including once in 2022 for an incident in the Portage la Prairie area. He just finished his sentence in that incident earlier this year.

Mariash's record included property and driving offences.

He had pleaded guilty to fleeing from a peace officer and assault with a weapon in April 2020, and to weapons and ammunition possession offences stemming from an incident in mid-March 2022, court documents show.

During a sentencing hearing last year, his lawyer, Tara Walker, said that Mariash lived with diagnosed intellectual disabilities and was on employment and income assistance.