Vancouver police share video of potential suspect in 2022 stabbing death

Vancouver police are sharing surveillance footage of someone they believe may be a suspect in a stabbing last year that left one man dead.

Thursday marks one year since 37-year-old Zhuowen Gong was taken to the hospital and died of his injuries. Police say he was fatally stabbed while walking in the area of Renfrew and Graveley streets around 9:45 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2022.

Const. Tania Visintin says investigators are still working closely with Gong’s family on this file.

“I can’t imagine what they’re going through, this is very devastating to not only have your son, your friend, brother, taken away from you, but to not have any answers yet is just as devastating,” she said on the one-year anniversary of the fatal stabbing.

Video shared Thursday shows a person walking along Grant Street between Lillooet and Windemere streets carrying a long object.

Investigators say this person is believed to have been “walking away from the crime scene.”

“I know it’s a bit difficult to make out, but if anybody sees any distinctive features. He was wearing a distinctive looking toque, or hat, kind of like a toque-hat with a brim,” explained Visintin.

At one point in the video, the object appears to reflect the street light, suggesting it was made of metal or another reflective material.

Visintin could not confirm what the object was, including whether or not it was a knife.

“It definitely appears like he’s holding something like that, but I can’t confirm if that, in fact, is a knife or if it was the weapon used. We don’t have that information right now,” she said. “We do know that Mr. Gong was stabbed to death, so it was stab wounds that tragically killed him.”

So far, despite investigative work and the collection of evidence, police have not been able to identify a suspect.

“We have yet to determine what the motive was, if it was random, if it was targeted,” Visintin added.

At the time of the incident, Visintin said police were “encouraging people to be extra vigilant” until more information was obtained.

She notes there haven’t been “any other issues in that neighbourhood” in the past year.

“We still always want people to be vigilant,” Visintin explained. “I think it was during that time, there was so much we didn’t know that, yeah, we needed to be transparent and say to people, ‘this happened in your neighbourhood and we don’t have anybody arrested so, yes, please be vigilant.’ We’re always asking people to be vigilant. But by no means do we feel like people need to shelter in place — there’s no public warning or public safety issue here.”

Investigators are asking anyone who knows who the person in the video is or who has any other information to contact police at 604-717-2500.