Metro Vancouver Transit Police are investigating a shocking video recently posted to social media showing two men allegedly breaking into a SkyTrain tunnel and tagging the walls with graffiti.
Const. Amanda Steed said the incident occurred on a portion of the tracks between Production Way and Lake City Station in Burnaby.
Officers identified and arrested one of the suspects and were working to identify the second, she added.
The video was posted to YouTube on May 18 by graffiti writer Liam Dunn, who told Global News he was arrested at his home and later released.
“I wouldn’t say it was worth it, depending on what I’m going to be charged with,” Dunn said Sunday.
He said he used to paint all the time in high school and, until recently, had stopped.
“All of a sudden, I just had an urge to just go out and do it again.”
The two suspects, one armed with bolt cutters, are seen entering the guideway below the tracks that run next to Lougheed Highway, then climbing up into the tunnel.
Using a flashlight, they navigate the confined space as traffic passes below.
At one point, one suspect is seen opening a metal grate directly over the busy route several metres below before lowering himself down a ledge to start tagging.
“So we’re not really thinking about the whole consequences of getting injured.”
Still, he said they were cautious while thrill seeking and are “not stupid.”
“We’re not just going to jump out of the (tunnel),” he told Global News. “If I’m hanging off the edge or something, I’m holding his hand so I’m not going to fall over.”
Steed said the track system design and structure of the guideway wouldn’t allow trespassers to easily compromise trains, and intruders themselves would usually be the only ones risking injury.
In the nine-minute video, both suspects are seen spray-painting tags throughout the tunnel space, including on the exterior of the grate.
“When you’re doing it, it’s an adrenaline rush,” Dunn said. “When you’re out with your buddies, you’re trying to compete with each other (as to) who’s got the better style.”
He later shared video of the stunt to the Vancouver Coalition of Graffiti Writers Facebook group in a post saying: “Check this out.. super nook/chill spot…”
Transit police said charges of break and enter, and mischief, are being recommended.
Dunn said he’s shared similar tagging videos online before and nothing happened, but this time, he said, police told him that someone had reported it.
“I don’t really have any regrets, right?” Dunn said in the interview. “It is what it is. I did what I did.”