Vancouver police have arrested a suspect accused of killing one man and severing another man’s hand in what is being described as a pair of unprovoked downtown stranger attacks Wednesday morning.
“What I can tell you is this appears to be a very troubled man who has a lengthy history of mental health-related incidents which have resulted in more than 60 documented contacts with police throughout Metro Vancouver,” Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer said at a Wednesday press conference.
“He has a prior conviction for assault, a prior conviction for assault causing bodily harm, and at the time of his arrest he was on probation out of White Rock for an assault that occurred in 2023.”‘
The first victim, a man in his 50s, was attacked near Cathedral Square at Richards and Dunsmuir streets around 7:30 a.m.
Police said he was attacked with a knife and was found bleeding from his head and with his hand “completely severed.” He was taken to hospital and is expected to survive.
Police were called to West Georgia and Hamilton streets minutes later, where a second man was attacked. He died at the scene.
Investigators obtained images of the suspect and confirmed the two attacks were linked.
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Officers located the suspect, a 34-year-old White Rock man, on Habitat Island near the Olympic Village just after 9 a.m., where someone had reported he was behaving erratically and had approached and yelled at a stranger.
He was arrested with the help of the Vancouver Police Emergency Response Team and a police drone operator.
“Vancouver is not unsafe”
Despite the “horrific” nature of the crimes, Palmer sought to reassure the public that the city remains safe and said attacks like these are rare.
“Vancouver is not dying, Vancouver is not dead, Vancouver is not unsafe. That’s all hyperbole and it’s not actually factual,” he said, adding violent crimes happen in every major city.
“What I will say is that our crime numbers are way down … We will still have crimes like this that will disturb the public and are disturbing to me and I am sure are disturbing to you on a personal level.”
Vancouver police have hired more than 175 new officers since 2022 and have increased their presence throughout the city, Palmer said.
Compared to last year, he said total crime in the city was down 7.4 per cent, violent crime was down seven per cent, property crime was down 10.3 per cent and serious assaults were down 17.8 per cent. Stranger attacks, he said, were down by about half.
But Palmer said police need help to deal with people with serious mental health issues and repeat offenders.
“Number one, we’ve got to stop the revolving door of justice … We need more people to be held in custody for serious crimes. We need charges not to be stayed,” he said, adding the suspect had previously had charges stayed relating to an alleged violent crime.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim called on the province and the federal government for more funding to address the “root causes” of violent crime, including serious mental health problems.
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Cities, he said, do not have the resources to tackle the problem.
“I am tired of hopping up here and having these conversations. It’s not the first time. And I know Vancouverites are sick and tired of hearing us talking about this as well,” he said.
“If we don’t pivot, expect to see more press conferences like this.”
Premier David Eby said the government would review the incident to “see what, if anything we could have done differently.”
“We have done so much work to ensure that we are addressing repeat violent offenders in our province, and we could see progress on it driving down those numbers in Vancouver, driving down the number of violent offences in our province and then something like this morning happens and it’s so devastating, these lives are changed forever,” Eby said.
He added that he would soon unveil new policy proposals to address people with serious mental health and addiction problems.
“You are going to see announcements from os on more assertive care for people who are struggling in this way because we need to ensure that every single British Columbian is protected int heir community,” he said.
The suspect, who has not been identified because he has yet to be charged, is currently in the Vancouver police jail.
Anyone who witnessed the attacks or has further information is asked to contact Vancouver police at 604-717-2500.
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