Charges laid after stabbing at Vancouver gas station
Posted June 2, 2022 12:32 pm.
Editor’s note: The article contains a video of the aftermath of this disturbing attack. It may not be suitable for all audiences.
Charges have been laid against a man accused of stabbing a person in a seemingly random and unprovoked attack at a gas station in East Vancouver Wednesday morning.
According to Vancouver police, witnesses reported a man hit a pedestrian with his car at the Esso station on Hastings Street near Skeena, then chased several people while holding a machete and another large knife. He’s accused of punching someone before returning to the pedestrian and stabbing him in the neck and back.
Leslie Dale Chudek, 61, is now charged with aggravated assault, assault, uttering threats, and “operating a conveyance in a manner dangerous to the public.”
Video footage from the scene showed a man shouting profanities and wielding the knives. The people around and near the pumps scattered and were heard screaming as they tried to avoid the man.
The 67-year-old stabbing victim was taken to the hospital. He is expected to survive.
The man who was punched was treated at the scene.
“We don’t know if there was a motive for this attack, and the fact that it appears random and unprovoked is extremely concerning,” Const. Tania Visintin said Wednesday. “The victims and the suspect did not know each other, and did not appear to have any significant interactions before the attack.”
Warning: The following video may not be suitable for all audiences
At one point in the video, the man is seen trying to get onto a parked motorcycle and leave. He dismounted a short time later. The suspect then laid in the middle of the street when police approached and arrested him.
“Before this incident, around 1:30 a.m., a man was seen driving the same vehicle erratically, and he fled from police in several Metro Vancouver cities,” Visintin added Wednesday. “When the car was boxed in by police, the driver allegedly rammed into the police vehicle and fled again.”
Chudek remains in custody until his next court appearance.
With files from Katarina Szulc
