One man is facing a host of charges after police allege he assaulted strangers in public on Christmas Day and, later, set fire to an apartment building.
North Vancouver RCMP issued a release Monday detailing the disturbing sequence of events.
On Dec. 25 at approximately 3:15 p.m., a 38-year-old woman spotted the suspect on the 100 block of Bewicke Avenue, smashing the windshield of her car.
“The victim attempted to stop it. The suspect left, came back and assaulted the victim,” he said, adding that the injuries were “not too serious,” but still required her to be taken to hospital for treatment.
There were several witnesses who saw the assault, which happened close to the Spirit Trail, but the suspect took off before police arrived, Sahak said.
About 30 minutes later, a second stranger assault was reported near the foot of Lonsdale Avenue where the Shipyards Christmas Market had been taking place. There, they believe, the same man sucker punched a woman and attacked her son, a teenager.
“Essentially, the suspect punched a woman from behind in the head and then began to assault her afterward, and then the son stepped in, and the suspect assaulted the son,” Sahak said. “She has serious injuries.”
Again, the suspect fled before police arrived. Sahak said there were witnesses to the Shipyards attack but investigators are hoping for others to come forward, including those whose dashcams may have been capturing footage of the area around 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 25.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, Dec. 29, North Vancouver City Fire Department crews responded to a fire burning at the front door of an apartment suite on the 100 block of East Keith Road. The building was evacuated while crews put out the flames, which investigators deemed suspicious and police later determined was likely deliberately set by the same suspect as the Christmas Day assaults. Sahak said the suspect and the suite’s occupant did not know each other.
Police arrested the suspect just before noon that day on the 1900 block of Lonsdale Avenue where police say he was breaching bail conditions from a previous arrest. The Crown has since sworn two charges of assault, one charge of assault causing bodily harm, four counts of mischief and one charge of arson against Jeremy Lariviere, a 42-year-old Vancouver man.
Lariviere has a long history in the court system. At the time of his arrest, he was on bail facing one charge of assault with a weapon related to a Nov. 2023 incident. In that case, the victim was a stranger as well, Sahak said.
Lariviere remains in custody but he is due for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
“Obviously he’s got some serious mental health issues that are obviously not being dealt with,” Sahak said. “We think that he’s a danger to the public, given this unpredictable behaviour, and that is why we recommended to the courts and to B.C. Prosecution Service that he should be held in custody until his trial date.”
Anyone with information about any of these incidents and who has not spoken to police is asked to call North Vancouver RCMP at 604-985-1311 and quote file #2024-26388. Those who wish to provide information but want to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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