The woman who was rushed to hospital in critical condition after an assault in Winnipeg's West End on Tuesday is a student at the University of Winnipeg.

"We are staying in very close touch with our student and her family and our hearts are with them in this incredibly difficult time," said James Currie, who is responsible for student services at the U of W.

In a statement to CBC News, Currie also said the school is reminding students that counsellors are available. He said the school is assisting police in their investigation.

"It was a very, very, very serious assault," said Winnipeg police Const. Rob Carver. "She's now been stabilized but this is very serious.

"It would be reasonable to assume that [with] an assault of this nature that the victim may not have survived."

Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Ellice Avenue and Dominion Street around 2:30 a.m.

A woman screaming ... that's what woke me up. - Donna Brooks

Police have a man in custody in connection with the incident and have recovered a weapon. Investigators believe the man and woman are known to each other, Carver said.

Part of the street corner and sidewalk remained stained with blood several hours later and a pile of bloody clothes could be seen nearby on the street.

Ellice remained blocked in both directions between Downing Street and Garfield Street North but reopened over the noon hour on Tuesday.

Ellice from Garfield to Downing now open<br>See: <a href="https://t.co/pBl9jUPPAz">https://t.co/pBl9jUPPAz</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/traffic?src=hash">#traffic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/winnipeg?src=hash">#winnipeg</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WpgTMC?src=hash">#WpgTMC</a> —@cityofwinnipeg

Donna Brooks, who lives on Dominion, close to the corner where the assault happened, was rattled by what she heard.

"Screaming. A woman screaming," she said. "That's what woke me up."

She said the noises went on for about five minutes then stopped. About a minute later, the screams started up again.

Then she could hear a man's voice talking, not yelling. Then just silence.

Brooks was about to call 911 when she heard sirens and saw emergency vehicles race down her street.

"It's disturbing to me that I heard that," she said.

"Every once in a while you get people sometimes yelling or talking loud but not this. Never this."

Police haven't released information on charges or ages of the people involved.