A man has been charged in connection with a scary incident in East Vancouver last month, where a suspect was seen walking around a neighbourhood with a machete.
Randy Frederick Powell, 49, is accused of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose on Nov. 25, and breaching his probation order.
In surveillance video posted to Twitter, a gloved suspect is seen scoping out a home near East 41st Avenue and Rupert Street.
A homeowner’s Nest camera captures the man using a butcher knife to hit the mailbox, and then swat at a shrub in the garden.
The suspect then grabs a machete stuck in a tree and uses it to push the home’s doorbell.
Another neighbour’s Ring surveillance camera records the same suspect at a different doorstep before he walks out the home’s front gate wielding the two knives.
Vancouver police said they received three different 911 calls about a suspicious man in the area.
Patrol units responded and arrested the suspect, who has an address on the Downtown Eastside, said Const. Tania Visintin. Two knives were also recovered.
Between Sept. 2018 and Nov. 2019, Powell was found guilty of theft in Surrey and Burnaby, possessing stolen property in Vancouver and Maple Ridge, and committing mischief in New Westminster, Burnaby and Coquitlam.
His longest sentence for those offences was one day in jail and 12 months probation.
Powell is scheduled to appear in Vancouver provincial court on Dec. 9.