Vancouver police have now identified the 10 most wanted suspects from this summer’s BREAKOUT Festival Riot at the PNE Amphitheatre.
Insp. Dale Weidman, the officer in charge of the VPD’s major crime section, said these are the people who they believe committed the most dangerous acts that night and put others at risk.
“We promised to do everything we could to identify the people responsible for destroying property and putting other concertgoers in danger, and for the past six weeks we’ve pored through video and tips to identify our 10 most wanted,” he said.
“We do have very good video evidence of what they did.”
Police received “dozens” of videos of violence and property destruction that flared up on Sept. 18, after BREAKOUT Festival headliner Lil Baby cancelled his show at the last minute, citing health reasons.
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Seven people were arrested at the scene the night of the riot, as angry fans toppled tables and tents, overturned food kiosks and fridges and brawled. PNE management has said most fans left peacefully, but about 1,000 remained and engaged in the mayhem.
Weidman said vandals ended up causing more than $300,000 in damage that night.
“We’re asking people to identify suspects and hold them accountable,” he added.
While the event is referred to as a “riot,” Weidman said it did not meet the legal definition of a riot, meaning charges of participating in a riot will not be laid against these people, as they were against people who participated in the 2011 Stanley Cup riot.
“However, since this incident happened on Sept. 18, it’s been widely discussed in the media, on social media, in the public as a riot and we simply felt we were referring to it as a riot in the same way the community has largely been referring to it,” Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver police explained.
If anyone recognizes one of these people, they are asked to visit vpd.ca/top-10 and use the online form to submit a tip.
Weidman said if someone is one of the people in these photos, or they’re worried that embarrassing pictures of them could be released in the future, it’s not too late to come forward.
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