The “suspicious circumstances” police began investigating on Monday have now been ruled Winnipeg’s fifth homicide.

Police swarmed a dumpster sandwiched between a high-rise apartment block on Smith Street and the Dhoom Restaurant and Lounge Monday morning on Donald Street after an individual, rumored to be a restaurant employee, found “items of concern,” said police.

A large area was enclosed with police tape as investigators with white masks and coveralls rousted through the dumpster.

On Tuesday morning, Cst. Jason Michalyshen told the media police have “located evidence to support that a homicide has taken place.”

That evidence was apparently body parts, as media have reported witnesses as saying severed hands were found in the dumpster. Police would not confirm or deny they found body parts.

 “We’re very confident that by day’s end we’ll have (identified the deceased),” said Cst. Michalyshen.

Meanwhile, residents of the apartment block are worried something may have happened in their building. Resident Justin Latchford said police asked him for identification went he went through the front doors around 3 p.m. Monday. He said they wouldn’t tell him anything about what had happened.

“He copied my license and said he’d contact me if they needed anything,” said Latchford, who’s lived at the apartment building since November. “It’s a big building and it’s easy for something to go down and no one knows about it.”

An employee working at Dhoom Restaurant only said the business is co-operating with police and that the incident does not involve the restaurant.

-With files from Shane Gibson