Vancouver’s police chief said the suspect in a pair of “unprovoked stranger attacks” in the city’s downtown that left one man dead and another with a severed hand was on probation for a 2023 assault and had more than 60 previous police interactions.
Chief Const. Adam Palmer said the suspect, a 34-year-old White Rock man, appeared to be “very troubled” and police were looking into whether mental health was a factor in Wednesday morning’s “horrific” attacks.
“I know that many people in our city and beyond are troubled by what has happened today,” Palmer told a news conference with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim.
He said such crimes “cause everyone to fear for their safety,” but while it was disturbing, such incidents were rare.
Palmer said the suspect, who had a history of assaulting police and social workers, was tracked down with the help of a police drone operator and arrested at Habitat Island, near the Olympic Village.
He said the 56-year-old victim whose hand was cut off was expected to survive, while police were in trying to identify the man killed near the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, believed to be about 70-years old.
The police chief said he didn’t believe the suspect was breaching his “light” probation conditions by being in Vancouver, and that police believed the early morning attacks were completely random.
Sim called the attacks “tragic and deeply unsettling,” while B.C. Premier David Eby said at an unrelated event that it was “a disheartening moment.”
“We make so much progress on driving down stranger attacks and reducing violent offenses in our province and then something like this happens and it shakes people’s confidence again in a really profound way, and understandably,” Eby said.
Eby said he was being kept up to date on the case by Solicitor General Mike Farnworth.
Police said in a news release that officers responded to a call at 7:38 a.m. about a man who had been attacked near Cathedral Square, at Richards and Dunsmuir streets.
They said they found a man with a severed hand who had been attacked with a knife and was also bleeding from the head.
Officers said that eight minutes later there was a call about an attack on a second man at nearby West Georgia and Hamilton streets, where the theatre is located, and despite efforts to save his life, the victim died at the scene.
Palmer declined to describe the man’s injuries.
The VPD statement said patrol officers obtained images of the suspect, confirmed the two incidents were linked, and began searching for the man.
Just after 9 a.m. a suspect was located on Habitat Island, after reports “that a man behaving erratically had approached a stranger and began yelling at him.”
“I applaud the witnesses who called police immediately and provided timely information,” Palmer said in the statement. “I am also extremely proud of the brave VPD officers who responded quickly to tend to the victims, to gather evidence, to arrest the suspect, and to stop this imminent public safety threat.”
Palmer said although “it will take time before we have all of the answers, it does not appear either victim knew the suspect, and we believe these attacks were completely random.”
The gruesome incidents triggered a heavy police presence in downtown Vancouver during the morning rush hour.
A white evidence tent had covered a corner of the plaza in front of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, with the entire square cordoned off and several police vehicles in attendance, while a section of Homer Street was also blocked.
Police tape surrounded a large pool of blood on Homer Street across from the CityMarket grocery store, with a bloody white towel on the ground.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2024.
