Vancouver: one dead, five injured in stabbing attack

Six people were hospitalized after the attack, but one of them, an undisclosed woman, died of her injuries, police said. The suspect is a man known to law enforcement and has a criminal record, Vancouver Criminal Police Sergeant Frank Jang said at a press briefing, without further clarification.

Population and police shocked by the attack

Investigators believe the suspect acted alone but say they ignore his motives. They had not yet interviewed the alleged perpetrator in the early evening, and have not revealed his identity. “We believe we have the only suspect in custody,” commented Frank Jang. “We think we know who did what, where and when, our job now is to figure out why.”

The attack, which took place in a bourgeois and quiet neighborhood in the north of the city on the Pacific coast, shocked police and witnesses. “The least we can say is that it’s absolutely shocking,” Sergeant Jang told Agence France-Presse. “For everyone, including the police themselves”. “It’s shocking”, also reacted Justin Prasad, who works in front of the library. According to him, the alleged perpetrator seemed to stab people at random.

A call for witnesses launched

“It was a bit unreal, especially because (he was acting) completely at random,” he added, joined by Agence France-Presse. “After he stabbed people near the library, it was chaos, I saw him face to face with the police, then he fled, the police chased him, cornered him and tackled him to the ground ”. The CTV channel broadcast on its site on Saturday evening a video presented as showing the arrest of the suspect, who appears to stab himself in the leg before collapsing and being arrested by several police officers.

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Sergeant Jang appealed for witnesses and called on the authors of the images to pass them on to investigators rather than posting them on social media. Another witness, Sheila Dyson, told CTV that she saw a man stab a woman. According to her, there did not appear to be any connection between the victims and the perpetrator seemed to strike “at random”.

Justin Trudeau’s words

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several members of the government reacted immediately on Twitter. “My thoughts are with North Vancouver tonight,” commented the head of government. “To all of those affected by the violent incident in Lynn Valley, please know that all Canadians are thinking of you and wish those injured a speedy recovery.”

Andrew Cocking, an entrepreneur who lives 500 meters from the library, told Agence France-Presse that the attack took place in a generally very quiet area. “I saw people being treated by rescuers and placed on stretchers. It was sad, especially since one of the victims seemed to be a child, ”he said. “It happened very close. My brother was at the library 30 minutes before the attack and my father was thinking about going there to get a book. It’s sad that these people were in the wrong place at the wrong time, ”he added.