Fifteen people have now been charged with mischief in connection with a small riot that broke out last summer at the Breakout Festival at the PNE Amphitheatre.
Vancouver police said Tuesday in a release that investigators analyzed security footage from the night of Sept. 18, 2022, showing a number of people deliberately destroying property in and around the venue.
Police said there was more than $300,000 in damage and the incident sparked street fights in the surrounding residential neighbourhoods.
“We spent months collecting evidence and analyzing video in the aftermath of the Breakout Festival, and we promised to do everything we could to arrest those responsible for their violent and destructive behaviour,” Insp. Dale Weidman, who led the investigation for the Vancouver Police Department’s major crime section, said in a release. “We’re grateful to everyone who came forward with tips and helped us identify these suspects.”
The chaos started after the headliner of the music festival, Lil Baby, did not perform.
He was apparently ill, according to organizers, who said in a statement at the time that “this decision was made immediately prior to his scheduled appearance time, and PNE staff were not made aware of the change until the performer had already vacated the site.”
According to staff, there were 5,200 guests in the amphitheatre at the time and about 4,200 of those people left.
“Approximately 1,000 of the guests turned their disappointment into a violent outburst that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to PNE property inside the Amphitheatre and in Hastings Park. It is our understanding that there was additional damage to property outside of Hastings Park, in the community and to local businesses. For this we are incredibly sorry to our neighbours,” the organization said in a statement last year.
Scenes shared online showed hundreds of festivalgoers trashing displays, throwing garbage cans and knocking over tents.
The B.C. Prosecution Service has now approved mischief charges against 15 people.
Those charged are all men aged 15 to 22 at the time of the offences, police said. All but three suspects live in communities outside Vancouver, with some living as far away as Prince George, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.