Most murder victims Native

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More than half the people murdered in Edmonton this year were Native, said the head of the Edmonton Police Department homicide division.

The stabbing death of John Bennett Thresher, a 25-year-old Indian from the Northwest Territories, was the third skid row murder in over a month and the 10th murder victim of 1989,

Murray Barker said.

Barker said six of those killed were Native.

Thrasher died in hospital from a single stab wound to the chest after being stabbed by an unknown attacker.

He was found bleeding outside a down town bar last Sunday.

Edmonton's last slaying occurred in the same area, outside the York Hotel Tavern at 10401 96St.

Barker said 25 homicides occurred in Edmonton in 1988, and five were on skid row.

"Of those victims, only one was Native," he said.

Barker said there is a current rash of alcohol-related stabbings involving Native people in the Edmonton skid row area.

"We are finding a lot more people are carrying knifes," he said.

Barker said most of the murder victims knew or were associated with their attackers.

There was 16 murders in Edmonton at this time last year. Only one native was killed in 1988, Barker said.

Detectives do not have any suspects in Thrasher's slaying.

Anyone with information about the murder is asked to call the police complaint line at 423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 422-8477 (TIPS).