Five people stabbed in less than an hour: VPD

As many flocked to the streets of downtown Vancouver for Halloween festivities over the weekend, Vancouver police responded to a number of incidents, including five people being stabbed in the span of an hour.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says the stabbings happened between two different altercations in the city early Sunday morning.

#VPDNews: #VPD are investigating after five people were stabbed in less than an hour early this morning, as Halloween partiers flooded the city’s bars, restaurants, and entertainment zones. Investigators believe it was two separate and targeted incidents. https://t.co/ncjR3LQ3KD pic.twitter.com/gMexyanetL

— Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) October 30, 2022

VPD Sgt. Steve Addison says all five victims required hospitalization.

“We believe these crimes were targeted and resulted from prior confrontations between the victims and the suspects,” he said.

Police say the first incident was at a bar near Oak Street and West Broadway around 1:30 a.m. Sunday following a confrontation between two groups of people. Three men in their 20s were seriously injured with stab wounds, police add, with the suspects fleeing.

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Less than an hour later, the VPD says officers downtown intervened in a large fight on Granville Street in which two men in their 20s suffered stab wounds. No suspects have been identified by police.

Addison says officers were also deployed throughout the weekend for other events and protests.

“The weekend before Halloween is always one of the busiest for our officers, and these major incidents stretched our resources thin during a critical time,” he said.

Other crimes from Halloween weekend

In addition to the stabbings on Sunday morning, Vancouver police are sharing a few other incidents that happened on the weekend.

Early Saturday morning, police say a man in his 20s was “slashed” in the face while trying to break up a dispute between two strangers. He was taken to the hospital to receive stitches.

That same morning, police responded to reports of someone with a gun in Vancouver’s West End near Denman Street and Davie Street. The VPD says the suspects fled the scene in a taxi but officers caught up with them, arresting two people and seizing two handguns from one of them.

On Saturday evening, officers responded to a man who said he was threatened with a knife while in Chinatown. Police say they found a suspect trying to flee on a bicycle, but officers were able to catch up after the bike’s chain broke. The man was taken to jail with charges being recommended.

VPD is reminding anyone who is the victim or witness of an in-progress crime to call police immediately so officers can respond. Non-emergency crimes can be reported to 604-717-3321.