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Strathcona residents' advocate says she was followed home, bludgeoned on head with pipe

Strathcona Residents Association VP Katie Lewis says she has no plans to quit, even after being attacked Saturday near Strathcona Park
strathcona-protest
In late September residents in Strathcona protested, in part, to advocate for their own safety with a tent city in a nearby park. Now, one of them has been attacked. Photo: Twitter/Katie Lewis

A man followed her home and bludgeoned her on the head with what felt like a metal pipe.

It was a senseless act of violence that the vocal vice-president of Strathcona Residents Association, Katie Lewis, something foretold in an interview with Vancouver Is Awesome.

In late September, Lewis expressed concerns about the level of violent crime in her neighbourhood, which has escalated since the start of the pandemic police have confirmed.

"I've had people try to break down my door, but the type of crime is escalating,” she said, especially with the growth of 400 people without shelter living in tents in Strathcona Park.

Lewis went public about her alleged assault on Saturday, which left her unconscious and bleeding at her doorstep.

“I went to drop off soup at a neighbour’s house who is sick. I walked around the periphery of [Strathcona] Park and headed home,” which was two blocks away, she said.

Although she wasn’t necessarily alone on her return home, a man reportedly had been followed her, stride by stride.

“He beat me with a metal pipe on the steps of my own stairs,” she posted to Twitter that same day after alerting the police.

Vancouver Police Department Cst. Tania Visintin confirmed officers responded to a woman who said she had been “hit on the head from behind” near East Georgia Street and Heatley Avenue on Oct. 17.

“The suspect ran off before she could get a description,” read a statement from police.

Lewis went to a local hospital for her injuries.

Two violent crimes in two days

Just a day before, a 46-year-old male was discovered having been stabbed inside of a tent, wrapped in a blood-soaked towel.

A woman found the victim on the corner of Raymur Avenue and Venables Street.

Visintin emphasized there was a "large quantity of blood."

"It is very troubling to know this man was suffering from his extensive injures for eight hours or more before paramedics or police were called."

"How would you like it if your family left you for eight hours?" The officer questioned.

The victim is now in hospital, in critical but stable condition.