Two people wounded, suspect shot dead in downtown Vancouver stabbing

Vancouver police say two people were wounded and officers shot a suspect in a stabbing attack in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday.

There was a massive police presence at the intersection of Robson and Hamilton streets, with a 7-Eleven convenience store behind a police cordon.

Witness video obtained by Global News shows a man behind the cashier counter holding what appears to be a knife and violently swinging an object at a staff member, as the worker pleads with him and tells him to take whatever he wants.

Moments later, three police officers enter the store and shout for the man to drop the knife and to move over.

One of the officers fires a Taser at the suspect as the other officers continue to order him to move over. A woman can be heard screaming before the officers open fire. At least 11 gunshots can be heard.

A woman who was behind the counter but out of frame can then be seen running to safety.

1:13 Witness describes stabbing, police shooting inside downtown Vancouver convenience store

International student and food delivery worker Mainul Islam said he was just arriving at the convenience store to pick up an order when the attack happened.

He said the suspect was trying to steal something from the store when an employee tried to intervene.

“And he just got up his knife and was trying to stab them,” he said, describing a weapon about as long as his forearm.

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“After that, (the employee) said you can take whatever it is you want, but he didn’t listen. Maybe he got angry.”

Islam said the man then stabbed a woman inside the store.

Police arrived moments later, he said.

“And all of a sudden everything happened. Police came and police shot this guy. Police tried to, like, shock him first, but he was resisting. So they shot him.”

Other witness video showed first responders performing chest compressions on a person being wheeled to an ambulance on a stretcher.

BC Emergency Health Services said three people were transported to hospital in critical condition.

0:19 Vancouver police respond to ‘violent’ incident downtown

In an update Wednesday afternoon, Vancouver police said officers were called to the area just after 11:30 a.m. when staff at Original Joes, a nearby restaurant, called 911 to report a man armed with a knife had stolen alcohol.

Responding officers found the suspect in the 7-Eleven, VPD Const. Tania Visintin said.

Visintin said officers shot the suspect. He was taken to hospital, but died despite life-saving efforts.

“When this incident happened, the best information we had at the time was that two people were stabbed,” Visintin added.

“What we now know, upon those people going to hospital, is that one person was stabbed and another person is injured … their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.”

One person had stab wounds to their hand, while the other person had facial injuries, she said. Visintin could not speak to how the second person was hurt.

B.C.’s civilian police watchdog the Independent Investigations Office has been deployed to review police actions in the case.

“We are interested in hearing from absolutely anyone and everyone who may have witnessed the actual incident or even the events that led up to the incident,” Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund said.

“Any cell phone video or other video that any witnesses do have that absolutely will help our investigation, and people shouldn’t think that, well, others have probably already provided exactly the same footage, so therefore, I’m not going to bother providing my footage — we ask that anyone who may have recorded this incident to come forward and share their video with us.

2:21 Vancouver police chief on policies contributing to crime and disorder

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim called the attack “terrible” and “traumatic,” adding that while data shows the city remains safe, “incidents like this really hit us to our core and it puts people on edge, and I don’t blame people for feeling that way.”

Sim said the incident should serve as a wake-up call to senior levels of government, who need to act immediately to address concerns that the city doesn’t have the jurisdiction to solve.

“The province committed to opening 400 (mental health and addiction) beds. We need them open now, or we are going to have incidents like this going on,” he said.

He said it had been 78 days since the city spoke with the federal government about bail reform for repeat offenders, and that the response so far has been “crickets.”

“The federal government needs to step up, have a conversation with us. Residents of Vancouver are sick of this crap, it’s bulls–t,” he said.

“The longer we wait, more people get hurt, there will be more people on edge.”