The suspect in a stranger attack involving a machete has been arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault following a Vancouver police investigation.
The attack happened June 19 in front of the Empress Hotel in the Downtown Eastside when two people were reportedly attacked by a stranger while loading luggage into a taxi. Both of the victims suffered significant injuries that required hospitalization.
A Vancouver Police Department (VPD) patrol officer was flagged down but the suspect fled immediately after the attack and police investigators could only get a limited description.
Evidence including security footage of a man fleeing the area after the time of the attack, as well as tips from the public, helped detectives identify the suspect as 37-year-old Kenneth Stephen Solowan.
Solowan was arrested on August 10 near Chinatown and is currently in custody. He will appear in court on August 17.
