Vancouver police are looking for a suspect in a recent hate crime at the Chinese Cultural Centre on the Downtown Eastside.
The suspect is believed to have walked into the centre’s courtyard on April 2 and defaced four large windows with what police call “disturbing, racist remarks towards the Asian community.”
The suspect is described as Caucasian with a thin build, wearing a black jacket, black pants and grey running shoes. He was also wearing a black baseball cap with writing on the front and had a black and white bandanna covering his nose and mouth.
Police said they have seen a large increase in recent weeks in reports of anti-Asian hate-motivated incidents. Eleven of the 15 hate crimes reported in April had an anti-Asian element.
Twenty anti-Asian hate crimes have been reported to Vancouver police so far this year, compared to 12 in all of 2019.
“It’s disheartening to report that these types of crimes are ongoing during the pandemic,” Const. Tania Visintin, said in a release. “Our department takes crimes with such hate attached extremely seriously.”
Anyone with information about this incident on April 2 is asked to call Vancouver police at 604-717-2773 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
Photos of the suspect provided by Vancouver police: