A Vancouver Police Department patch is seen in Vancouver on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Vancouver’s police chief says the suspect in a pair of “unprovoked stranger attacks” in the city’s downtown that left one man dead and another with a severed hand was on probation for a 2023 assault and had more than 60 previous police interactions.
Chief Constable Adam Palmer says the suspect, a 34-year-old White Rock man, appears to be “very troubled” and police are looking into whether mental health was a factor in this morning’s “horrific” attacks.
He says the man, who had a history of assaulting police and social workers, was tracked down with the help of a drone and arrested at Habitat Island, near the Olympic Village.
Palmer says the 56-year-old victim whose hand was cut off is expected to survive, while police are in the process of identifying the man who was killed, who was aged about 70.
More coming.
