One man killed, another gets hand cut off in violent, unprovoked stranger attacks in downtown Vancouver

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A man with a history of mental illness, violent offences and more than 60 police interactions across the region was identified as a suspect Wednesday in unprovoked attacks in downtown Vancouver that left one man dead and another with a severed hand.

Vancouver police said they wouldn’t identify the 34-year-old White Rock man as he hadn’t yet been charged.

“What I can tell you is this appears to be a very troubled man who has a lengthy history of mental health-related incidents that have resulted in 60 documented contacts with police throughout Metro Vancouver,” Police Chief Adam Palmer told a news conference.

The morning violence touched off political attacks by the B.C. Conservatives who accused the NDP government of “failures” in their handling of mental-health and criminal justice issues.

At 7:38 a.m., police were called to the area around Holy Rosary Cathedral on Dunsmuir and Richards streets. They found a 56-year-old man nearby who had been attacked with a knife on the steps of the church and bleeding from his head.

The victim’s left hand had been cut off. He was taken to hospital and was expected to survive.

Eight minutes after the first attack, officers rushed to Queen Elizabeth Theatre at West Georgia and Hamilton streets where another man, believed to be about 70 years old, had been attacked. He died at the scene.

Officers were able to obtain images of a suspect and began a search.

Later in the morning, a man walking his dog in the Olympic Village area called 911 to report that an individual “behaving erratically” had approached him and was yelling at him.

Police dispatched a drone to search the area and a suspect was arrested on Habitat Island in connection with both downtown attacks, which police described as unprovoked.

“Attacks like these shake our collective sense of comfort and safety, and we’re grateful that a suspect was quickly taken into custody by our officers,” Palmer said in a statement. “Although it will take time before we have all of the answers, it does not appear either victim knew the suspect, and we believe these attacks were completely random.”

Palmer said a suspect remained in jail and would be facing serious charges.

“There is a prior conviction for assault, there’s a prior conviction for assault causing bodily harm and at the time of his arrest he was on probation out of White Rock for an assault that occurred in 2023,” said Palmer.

The two crime scenes remained cordoned off for much of the day, one outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the other a block away on Homer Street stretching to the cathedral. A white tent used by police to protect evidence was set up on the northwest corner of the theatre’s plaza, near the box office.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a body covered by a tarp under the tent.

Along Homer Street, a large pool of blood was visible in the middle of the sidewalk beside the refurbished Canada Post building. About two metres away, a blood-soaked towel or shirt could be seen on the ground. A trail of blood drops led back to the cathedral.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic attack that took place this morning outside the front doors of Holy Rosary Cathedral,” said Matthew Furtado, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver.

He said the attack was captured on surveillance cameras and the footage had been forwarded to police. He was unable to confirm if the victim was a parishioner.

Meanwhile, the cathedral continued with its afternoon mass, urging parishioners to use the building’s side doors to exit, as its main doors remained closed while police investigated outside.

A bystander who was in the area at around 8 a.m. said an employee of a nearby store told him a man had his hand severed.

“He said a guy had his hand cut off. I stopped dead in my tracks and went, ‘What?’ ”

A photograph shared with Postmedia News showed an injured man in a teal-coloured jacket squatting on the sidewalk, blood dripping from his severed left wrist.

The attacks left people who live and work in the neighbourhood shaken.

Theresa Thompson saw several police cars and heard sirens as she got off the bus on Georgia Street just before 8 a.m. to get to her job at a Richards Street hostel.

She saw a man being treated by paramedics and taken into an ambulance.

Thompson lives in North Vancouver but works and shops in the area, and said the incident makes her feel less safe.

“I thought maybe someone had fallen on the floor, I didn’t think it would be a crime,” she said.

Natalie Minarchenko, who lives nearby in Yaletown, said downtown Vancouver has become less safe.

“Everyday something happens and you don’t want to go out alone,” she said.

Melissa De Genova, former Vancouver city councillor and current B.C. Conservative candidate for Vancouver–Yaletown, released a statement following the attacks, criticizing the B.C. NDP government for what she described as a failure to adequately support those with mental-health and addictions issues.

“People with mental-health and addictions issues are set up for failure, and the parole system is broken, as we have seen once again with the tragedy today,” she said.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad echoed those sentiments, calling Wednesday’s incidents part of a “broader pattern of lawlessness” due to “David Eby’s weak stance on crime and public safety.”

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the provincial government had demonstrated a willingness to be partners with the city when it comes to public safety “by pivoting on policy that was not working, specifically decriminalization.”

“Now we need to pivot on how we deal with mental health. Simply put, significant changes need to happen. The federal government has to be part of this conversation as well, especially when it comes to tackling repeat offenders and the mental-health crisis which is being experienced by every town and city across our country.”

Postmedia reached out to Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth for comment.

With files from Patrick Johnston

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