Vancouver Police arrest suspect in viral homophobic tirade video
Posted February 4, 2023 10:24 am.
Last Updated February 5, 2023 3:34 pm.
A man seen shouting homophobic comments outside Vancouver’s Burrard SkyTrain station earlier this week has turned himself in to police.
Vancouver Police Department (VPD) started their investigation Tuesday after seeing a video posted by a 27-year-old man on TikTok.
The video shows the 34-year-old suspect making homophobic comments as well as other insults.
Police say the man turned himself in to VPD Hate Crimes investigators Thursday morning and was arrested shortly after for his role in the verbal harassment and an unrelated firearms offence.
“We do believe he became aware of the fact that he had been recorded and that this was in the news because this video garnered so much attention and so much outrage and he decided to come forward and enabled us to begin wrapping this investigation up in a fairly quick period of time,” Sgt. Steve Addison said.
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He has since been released pending his next court date on March 29.
Police say he can’t be identified to the public at this point because charges haven’t been made official yet, but they do say he’s a Chilliwack resident.
Michelle Fortin, co-chair of the Vancouver Pride Society says that the incident is an important reminder that a lot of work still has to be done.
“I think we’re very lucky in many ways as an urban city, as a place that is so diverse, that we are safer than many other places. But this is a reflection that we need to have these conversations.”
Fortin explains the importance of people embracing their roles and identifying themselves as allies.
“It’s important that people who aren’t members of our community stand up and say that this isn’t okay. You know, we need a police force that is clearly in support of equity for all and we really need to ensure that young people, because these were young people in this video, that young people understand that homophobia, and transphobia are not going to be something that we’re going to put up with,” Fortin said.
The news comes a few weeks before celebrations for the Vancouver Winter Pride Festival start on Feb. 18.
