A 67-year-old man is in hospital with serious injuries and a 61-year-old man has been arrested after a very public attack in the early hours of the morning at a gas station in East Vancouver.
The incident happened around 6:30 a.m. on June 1 at a gas station at 3502 East Hastings St., not far from the eastern end of the city. Police say it started when a man used his car to wrap a pedestrian on the gas station property.
“Then he got out of the car, and allegedly chased several people while holding a knife and a machete,” the VPD said in a press release. “He was supposed to punch a passerby, then turn his attention back to the pedestrian, stabbing him in the neck and back.”
Police arrived at the scene while the suspect was trying to steal a motorcycle parked near the gas station exit.
“We don’t know if there was a reason for this attack, and the fact that it seems random and unprovoked is extremely worrying,” says Const. Tania Visintin at launch. “The victims and the suspect did not know each other and did not appear to have any significant interaction prior to the attack.”
Police say the same vehicle fled police before June 1.
“Before the incident, around 1:30 a.m., a man was seen driving the same vehicle erratically and fled police in several Vancouver metropolitan cities,” Visintin notes. “When police encapsulated the car, the driver allegedly wrapped the police vehicle and fled again.”
Images of part of the incident were shared on social media before being deleted. In the video, you can see a man walking on the bombs with what appears to be a knife and a machete in his hands. Several voices can be heard, such as a man screaming in pain and another screaming for people to “pick up the shit.”
The gunman moves towards the others, seeming to threaten them. People are quickly fleeing the immediate area.
Without anyone nearby, he gets on a motorbike parked at the exit of the gas station as if preparing to leave. When he sits on the bike, he hears more screams to one side and he gets off the bike.
He then lies on the ground, lying down, and a moment later the police are seen approaching him.
At the same time, the video examines the scene closer to the bombs. You can see two people on the ground, a little apart. One, who looks like a man, grabs his head.
Another is lying on the floor in a neon yellow safety vest with people attending to him. The person who recorded the video says one of the men had been stabbed.
“They also stabbed him in the back,” says the person on camera. Paramedics are requested.
The footage then shows the weapons on the ground: one appears to be a long kitchen knife while the other is a longer blade with a large curve at the end.
This story has been updated with more details from Vancouver police.