Man charged in connection with ‘stranger attacks’ in downtown Vancouver that left one dead, another man’s hand severed
Posted September 5, 2024 3:14 pm.
Last Updated September 5, 2024 4:13 pm.
A man has been formally charged in connection with two “stranger attacks” that left one man dead and another with serious injuries — including a severed hand — in downtown Vancouver Wednesday morning.
According to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), Brendan Colin McBride was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault.
Police say the homicide victim has been identified as 70-year-old Francis David Laporte.
The name of the man who survived the attack is not being released “for privacy reasons.” Police say he remains in hospital after undergoing surgery.
The VPD says officers responded to reports of an attack near Cathedral Square at Richards and Dunsmuir streets downtown just after 7:30 a.m. Wednesday
When they arrived, they found a man “who had been attacked with a knife, was bleeding from the head, and had suffered a severed hand.” He was taken to hospital for treatment.
Just moments later, police say they were called to West Georgia and Hamilton streets after reports that a second man had been attacked.
“Despite efforts to save his life, the man died at the scene,” Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement Wednesday.
Shortly after 9 a.m., police then received reports that a man, who matched the suspect’s description, was “behaving erratically” and had approached a stranger and started yelling at him at Habitat Island, near Olympic Village.
McBridge was then taken into custody in relation to the attacks. At a press event Wednesday afternoon, VPD Chief Const. Adam Palmer said the suspect appears to be “a very troubled man who has a lengthy history of mental health related incidents, which have resulted in more than 60 documented contacts with police throughout Metro Vancouver.”
Palmer said the suspect has prior convictions for assault and assault causing bodily harm, and at the time of his arrest, he was on probation out of White Rock for an assault that occurred in 2023.
The VPD is asking anyone with information about the attacks to come forward and speak with police. The homicide team can be contacted at 604-717-2500.
With files from Charlie Carey and Mike Lloyd.
