Manitoba Hydro Place temporarily closed to public after employee assaulted

An 18-year-old man is facing charges after a worker at Manitoba Hydro Place was assaulted by a man with a knife.

An 18-year-old man is facing charges after police say a man with a knife randomly assaulted an employee at Manitoba Hydro Place.

Winnipeg police say they received several calls about the incident at around 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

They were told a man with a knife went into a building in the 300 block of Portage Avenue and was causing a disturbance.

A Manitoba Hydro spokesperson confirmed to CTV News the incident happened in the gallery of its downtown Manitoba Hydro Place offices.

Officers say the incident escalated when the suspect knocked a man to the ground, who Hydro confirmed was an employee who was leaving work for the day.

He was able to disarm the suspect, police say, and several bystanders stepped in to help until officers arrived.

Once on scene, police found the suspect minutes later, but he was uncooperative and continued to be violent.

Officers say they used a Taser on him to take him into custody. A knife was later seized.

An 18-year-old man is facing weapons-related charges.

He was released on an undertaking.

The victim sustained minor injuries and was treated by paramedics.

The assault comes after Manitoba Hydro began closing public access to its gallery space earlier in the evenings in a push to improve safety for employees and the public after other potentially dangerous incidents.

Manitoba Hydro said Monday the building is closed to the public while they review security measures.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

- With files from CTV’s Kimberly Rio Wertman