An 18-year-old man has been seriously injured and hospitalized in what police describe as a “vicious attack” with a baseball bat in Nanaimo, B.C.
The assault took place just before 5 p.m. last Friday on Bruce Avenue near Dundas Street and was caught on camera, according to Nanaimo RCMP.
Witnesses said a masked suspect approached the young man with a baseball bat, hit and kicked him, then fled on foot with a group of four or five other youths.
The teen was brought to the Nanaimo hospital and then airlifted to Victoria for treatment of life-threatening injuries.
“I came here and found the young man hunched over the curb,” said Barclay Kelley, a witness who rushed to the scene when he heard screaming.
“I didn’t get to see the baseball incident itself – I’ve only seen it on tape.”
Bystanders provided first aid to the victim until first responders arrived.
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“(I) didn’t know at the point if he was alive or dead. Just watched the ambulance load him onto a stretcher and load him up,” added witness Clayton Carson.
Video footage shot from inside a vehicle appears to show the man unconscious on a Nanaimo sidewalk. Someone in the vehicle can be heard taunting him with inappropriate language.
Another video appears to show the suspect, clad in black, striking the same man on the sidewalk with a bat and kicking him.
“This was a vicious attack carried out in broad daylight that has shocked the community,” said Reserve Const. Gary O’Brien in a Monday news release.
“We want to assure people that this is a priority investigation and that the investigators are focused on identifying who is responsible, and holding them accountable for their actions.”
No arrests have been made yet, but Mounties have found a vehicle linked to the attack and identified its registered owner. It has been seized and is undergoing forensic examination.
“It’s just terrifying,” neighbour Amanda Kelly said.
“I have a 14-year-old son myself and I can’t believe how many people were just driving by and not helping, not doing anything.”
Anyone with information on the assault is asked to contact the Nanaimo detachment at 250-754-2345.