“This was a horrific and violent crime, and the suspects preyed on a vulnerable person,” said a Vancouver police spokesperson.

"This has happened four times in the past and we really aren't looking for a fifth tent city," said Minister of Social Development Shane Simpson.

B.C. provided an update on its plan to move tent city residents in Victoria into temporary housing in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

The claim accuses organizers of trespassing, after they set up the tent city to protest the amount of shelter being provided during COVID-19.

A spokesperson has not said if that will come in the form of an injunction against the campers.

The province says about 265 people have been moved to temporary housing, but one homeless advocate says the province housed the most visible, not the most vulnerable.

Police said when they arrived, they found the snake — along with four replica handguns, two machetes, an axe and a club with nails in it.

The province unveiled a plan to use hotels house the homeless living in Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park and Victoria's Topaz Park and Pandora Avenue late last month.

The B.C. government is laying out the next steps to ensure there are not more homeless camps at Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park.

Advocates for the Downtown Eastside camp say the plan is only focused on the most visible of Vancouver's homeless, and that thousands more need those hotel units first.