‘Just started swinging a machete’: Survivor of random attack on what happened, what’s next

Eric Laferriere says he doesn’t remember much about the incident, but says everything happened so fast.

After being the victim of a random machete attack, Eric Laferriere is big into the arts.

He is a DJ, producer and a tattoo artist on the side.

“If it’s art, I’ve probably done it one way or another,” he said. “Art is my life.”

It was two years ago that everything he worked so hard for was almost taken away in a matter of seconds.

Laferriere, his then-girlfriend and another woman were going out to eat at around 10:30 p.m. He said two men were standing outside the front doors of the apartment building they were leaving.

“I stepped out and one guy just started swinging a machete,” he said. “I didn’t even realize it was a machete at first. I realized I got hit by something and my wrist broke.”

Laferriere says he doesn’t remember much but everything happened so fast.

“I remember still not even realizing that I was hit by a machete. I put my head down on my girlfriend’s arm and picked my head, and realized her arm was covered in blood, and I said, ‘Why is my head bleeding?’ And looked down and my hand was all flapped open,” he said. “It was completely random.”

‘I thought my arms were done’

It’s been a very long journey for Laferriere since the attack. He is still rehabilitating, trying to get back into his arts career.

He still doesn’t have 100 per cent mobility on his left arm.

“I had to relearn how to draw,” he said. “They originally told me that I had a 10 per cent chance to even get 5 per cent of my movement back. I’ve got pretty good movement, but I push it, and it hurts every day.”

‘There are still a lot of these things around’

There has been a string of machete attacks in Winnipeg as of late.

Most recently, three male teens -- 13, 14, and 15 years old -- were charged after a 14-year-old boy was attacked with a machete at Winnipeg’s Polo Park mall.

Police say the victim was hit several times with the machete, and suffered a significant hand injury.

A few weeks before that, another 15-year-old boy was arrested after an unprovoked machete attack left a 68-year-old man with serious injuries.

In 2024, the Manitoba government introduced legislation known as the Long-Bladed Weapon Control Act to regulate the sale of long-bladed weapons like machetes. The goal is to restrict access to these weapons, particularly for those who might misuse them.

Long-bladed weapons cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 18 in Manitoba.

Winnipeg police said they even have significant resources focused on violent incidents.

“The service has a comprehensive response to all violent crime that includes incidents involving a machete,” said Const. Claude Chancy of the Winnipeg Police Service. “A task force wouldn’t be created for a specific weapon; however significant resources have been focused on violent crimes that includes machete occurrences as part of that response.”

How are teens getting machetes?

But with legislation and preventative measures in place, how are young teens still getting their hands on these weapons?

“They (machetes) were very popular starting two or three years ago,” says Criminologist Frank Cormier from the University of Manitoba.

He says there are still a lot of these weapons around.

“You could buy them in discount stores, hardware stores, just about anywhere and they were quite cheap. Unfortunately, they are a very effective weapon – quite large and sharp,” he said.

“There is not legislation that can make them all magically disappear. There are no records of who owned them prior to the legislation. There is simply no way to know where they are.”

Cormier says he won’t be surprised if machetes continue to be used in violent crimes moving forward.

“Since there is no way we could ever eliminate weapons from people, we do have to focus on trying to reduce the number pf people who are motivated to use them, or even simply in the kind of state of mind where they mindlessly use them,” he said.

As for Laferriere, he is taking his recovery day by day.

“It’s a lot of more mental healing now than it is physical, because this is the best it will ever be,” he said. “As long as I keep using it, it will be okay. I’ll have arthritis, but it’s a mental game now.”

In the meantime, Laferriere says, he will continue to work hard to revive his career in the arts.