Police patrols at transit hubs are set to increase after a stabbing on a Surrey, B.C., bus left a teen dead, amid a spate of knife attacks on public transit in Greater Vancouver and Toronto The latest from the .
Surrey RCMP said the stabbing happened just before 9.30pm on Tuesday, when the 17-year-old male victim and his attacker got into an altercation of some kind on a bus, not far from the King George light rail station.
Police are still searching for witnesses but said the stabbing appeared to be “targeted”.
No one has been arrested and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has been called in to investigate.
“At this time, investigators believe this is an isolated incident and not related to the Lower Mainland gang conflict,” IHIT said in a written statement.
Surrey RCMP media relations officer Vanessa Munn said at a news conference Wednesday that while overall crime in Surrey has dropped 14 percent this year, incidents such as fatal stabbings could spread in the community. cause fear.
That’s why Surrey RCMP and Metro Vancouver Transit Police will indefinitely increase patrols at transit hubs and other relevant locations, Munn said.
Premier David Eby acknowledged the “disturbing news” of the teen’s death at the start of a news conference in Nanaimo, where he announced a government plan to Addresses the problem of repeat violent offenders across the province.
“The terrible news from Surrey is definitely part of why we are here today,” Eby said, adding that the Repeat Violent Offenders Program was part of “our commitment to addressing public safety issues”.
There have been a number of knife attacks in traffic settings in Metro Vancouver over the past two weeks.
A victim was attacked at the Columbia LRT station in New Westminster on Monday night.
The victim was treated at the hospital and has not yet been released. Police are looking for two men and a teenage girl involved in the incident.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police say they used a Taser on a man who was shoving passengers on the Millennium light rail line in Burnaby Monday morning.
The man allegedly pulled out a knife and slashed an officer’s jacket during a confrontation with officers at Lougheed Station. An officer also fired a shot, but the suspect was not shot, and the man was arrested, police said.
The latest attack is the second serious stabbing on a Surrey bus in two weeks, although the first victim had his throat slit on April 1 and is recovering at home.
Police said there was “no indication” that the two bus attacks were “in any way connected”.
Abdul Aziz Kawam, a suspect in the April 1 throat slitting incident, is scheduled to appear in court again in Surrey on Thursday.
Kawam was charged with attempted murder, assault occasioning bodily harm, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, all of which are linked to the Islamic State terrorist group.
International student Jasmine Kaur Kochhar at Kwantlen University of Technology in Surrey said she and many other students in the city relied on buses.
She said the attacks had undoubtedly raised concerns among students.
“Sometimes I’ll be home around 8:30 or 9 p.m. So yeah, for me personally, it’s very worrisome,” Kochhar said.
Kochhar said some students have begun traveling in groups when possible for safety reasons.
There has also been a spate of knife attacks on Toronto public transit.
In late March, 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes was stabbed to death in an apparently unprovoked attack at a Toronto subway station. A 22-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder in the case.
Earlier, there have been a spate of violence in Toronto traffic, including a woman stabbed to death on a subway train in December and a woman stabbed in the head on a streetcar in late January.
Fatal stabbing in Surrey crossing