Vancouver police say others have come forward after woman reports being followed

Vancouver police say they’ve spoken to other possible victims after a Vancouver woman’s disturbing report of being followed by a strange man for more than half an hour.

Jamie Coutts filmed a portion of the encounter, which happened in the area of Keefer and Columbia streets in downtown Vancouver Wednesday evening.

Coutts said the man was walking right behind her, and when she stopped to let him past, he also stopped.

She says when she told him he was too close to her, he said nothing, but continued to follow her when she began walking again. After making several loops around the neighbourhood she found a group of people to sit with at a skateboard park and the man backed off.

On Friday, VPD Const. Tania Visintin said the investigation into the incident remained “active and ongoing.”

“The woman did the absolute right thing in calling police — we can’t stress enough how much we need people, victims of crime, victims similar to this situation to call police,” she said.

“We do take this stuff very seriously, and we only know that it’s going on if people call police. So thanks to this victim who’s made this very scary situation known, we have other victims come forward who we are investigating as well.”

Visintin urged anyone who had experienced something similar to also call police and make a report.