Vancouver police say extra officers will be patrolling in and around Stanley Park following an alleged attack on Monday morning.
Police said a woman was allegedly attacked in the park by a stranger while on the Lees Trail, just north of Lost Lagoon.
“We’re investigating a sex assault, a very serious assault that occurred here in Stanley Park,” Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver police said on Monday.
Investigators are still looking for a man in his 20s who is about five-feet-seven-inches in height. He was wearing a dark toque and a zip-up jacket with a checkered pattern on the front.
“We know this is very unnerving, very unsettling for people,” Addison said.
“This was a sexually motivated stranger attack that occurred in a busy area in broad daylight. That’s all extremely concerning.”
Addison said officers are not only looking for evidence and for the suspect but they are trying to reassure the community and provide some extra comfort for people who are unnerved by the alleged attack.
More than 20 officers flooded the area on Monday, Addison said, patrolling the causeway, the trails and the Seawall in cars, on foot with dogs and on horseback.
He added they believe the suspect is no longer in the park.
“We’re now working to find out who he is, to locate him so that he can be arrested at the earliest possible opportunity,” Addison said.
“We have a lot more work to do in this investigation. It’s a very serious investigation. And these investigations do take time. We’ll work with the victim. We’ll collect our evidence. We will analyze that evidence and we’ll work towards identifying the person who did this.”
Comments