Nanaimo Mounties say coffee shop homicide ‘a random incident with a tragic outcome’

Nanaimo RCMP say a homicide at a coffee shop in the city’s north end Saturday morning was random.

Police were called to the Buzz Coffee House at 4890 Rutherford Road around 9 a.m. Saturday on a welfare check.

Officers arrived to find a man dead. They arrested a second man at the scene.

“Investigators are confident that based on the evidence collected to date, there was no connection between the deceased and the individual arrested at the scene,” Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Reserve Const. Gary O’Brien.

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“This was a random incident with a tragic outcome.”

Police have not released any details about the victim or the suspect.

O’Brien said the cafe remained closed Sunday while forensic investigators continued their work.

Mounties with the Nanaimo detachment’s serious crime unit have also executed two search warrants, he said.

Police are asking anyone who came by the business between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Saturday and who saw anything suspicious to contact Nanaimo RCMP.