Surrey mom asks witnesses to come forward after teens randomly bear sprayed

A Surrey mom is asking potential witnesses to come forward after she says her teenage son and his girlfriend were randomly bear sprayed Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Surrey RCMP, officers were called to the Newton Bus Loop around noon, after two youths were bear sprayed by two strangers.

Surrey mom Sharon says it was her 16-year-old son and girlfriend who were hurt, and adds the couple was on their way to the gym.

“Within seconds of getting off the bus, two young blokes…were just like, ‘hey, where are you going?’ And then my son felt something on the back of his head. He wasn’t sure what it was,” Sharon said.

“They ran off, and [it] turned out it was bear spray.”

Sharon says the pair managed to seek help from a nearby youth clinic, where her son gave her a call.

When she heard the news, she says she was in shock.

“My heart just sank. I was angry. I was sad. I was like, what? What does this mean? What’s going to happen to him? Like, I didn’t know if there was any sort of long-term effects,” she said.

“How on earth are these kids getting a hold of this stuff?”

Plea for witnesses

“I would really like to ask that if anybody was in that area at the time and did see this, please contact police. You know, if they have a better description, maybe it will help to get these people off the streets, to stop this [from] happening to other kids,” Sharon said. 

Const. Sarbjit Sangha with the Surrey RCMP says officers received a call about the incident from the clinic and adds this type of random attack is quite rare.

“Most of the time when these incidents happen it’s usually an altercation between two parties, and then a bear spray is deployed by one of the parties,” Sangha said.

“When two youth kids that are just on a bus and minding their own business, they’re getting bear sprayed for no reason whatsoever by strangers, it’s very concerning.”

Sharon says while the pair is shaken and her son has significant burns, otherwise they are doing OK.

Sangha says parents should be keeping an eye out for things they didn’t purchase themselves.

“As parents, we should be checking over kids’ backpacks. If we are not buying them stuff, it’s coming from somewhere. We’ve got to keep an eye on it,” Sangha said.

Sharon says the incident has been hard on her and caused extra stress.

“I’ve always been a bit wary of letting my children out. I mean, they’re both teenagers. But I’ve always had my concerns. This definitely is going to make me worry a lot more when they’re out on their own. It’s hard as a mom, you never want your children to be in a situation like that,” Sharon said.

The suspects were not found after searching the area, and Mounties are asking anyone with information to call 604-599-0502.

With files from Emily Marsten