Nanaimo RCMP say officers are investigating another unprovoked attack on a homeless person in the community.
On Oct. 2, just before 11 p.m., officers were called to Museum Way in downtown Nanaimo.
Witnesses told the police a 24-year-old homeless man had been struck with a metal pipe, or a similar type of object, and was taken to the hospital with head and facial trauma.
They said about an hour earlier, the man had been sitting on Museum Way when three men, dressed in dark clothing, approached him, asked him a question and then hit him with the object.
The group then ran in the direction of Gordon Street and were last seen getting into a black minivan that fled toward Terminal Avenue, the witnesses told police.
This appears to be an unprovoked attack on a person in our community who was unable to defend himself
, said Const. Simon Gallimore, Nanaimo RCMP media relations officer.
This is not the first seemingly unprovoked attack on a homeless man in the city the last few months.
In July, Charles Salter, 45, was pushing his shopping cart near 102 Street and Victoria Avenue when witnesses say he was approached by a small black car with several people inside.
Someone got out and doused him with pepper spray and the car accelerated and ran him over.
Salter was rushed to hospital and his daughter told Global News he had tire tracks all over his body.
RCMP is asking anyone who may have witnessed the attack on Museum Way on Oct. 2 to contact investigators.
Investigators are asking anyone with dashcam or other video footage in the area to please check it between the hours of 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that evening, and to contact them at 250-754-2345 and quote file # 2021-37118.
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