VANCOUVER – Vancouver police have locked down the rooming house where a thirty-something woman was killed early this morning, while officers go floor to floor investigating the city’s third homicide of 2012.
Police arrived at the Cobalt Hotel (917 Main St.) shortly after a 911 call came in at 6:04 a.m. The woman was found suffering from stab wounds and died about 45 minutes later in hospital. She has not been identified yet and police said an autopsy is scheduled to help determine who she is and how she died.
A man, who is not a suspect at this point, was also found in the hotel with non-life threatening injuries.
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Police spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton said it is still early in the investigation and officers are still trying to figure out where the incident happened. All they know now is it happened on one of the floors Houghton said. No one is in custody, no suspect information is available and no motives are known, but the homicide does not appear to be gang related Houghton told reporters at a morning press conference.
“Initially we have to cordon off the largest area possible that could potentially hold that crime scene,” said Houghton of the ongoing hotel lockdown, which is aimed at stopping evidence from being destroyed or tampered with.
The hotel on the edge of the Downtown Eastside has been the scene of numerous assaults over the past decade or so.
“We’ve been going there for calls of various kinds for many, many years,” said Houghton. “Certainly any drug connection is a possibility at this point.”
Houghton said police will probably remain at the hotel for several more hours and asked any witnesses to phone the VPD at 604-717-2500 or anonymously call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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