The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is investigating what it calls a “serious assault” Friday morning on a TransLink bus near Hastings and Jackson on the Downtown Eastside.
“The victim was taken to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries,” said public information officer Const. Tania Visintin. “No arrests have been made and the
investigation is ongoing.”
She said the victim is a 60-year-old male. There was no description available of the suspect, other than that he is white.
A reader told a reporter that he saw an empty R5 TransLink bus parked eastbound on the south side of Hastings Street near Dunlevy Avenue around 7 a.m. Friday.
The bus was surrounded by five VPD vehicles and one Transit Police cruiser.
The incident was the latest in an unusually violent April on public transit in the region.
On April 1, a man on a bus on Fraser Highway near 156th Street in Surrey survived a throat-slashing. Abdul Aziz Kawam was charged with four counts under federal terrorism laws, alleging a link to the Islamic State terrorist organization.
On Tuesday night, 17-year-old Ethan Bespflug was stabbed to death on a bus near King George SkyTrain Station in Surrey. Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is looking for a suspect.
ATU Local 134, the union for West Vancouver Blue Bus drivers, said there was a bloody fight aboard a bus near Marine Drive and 20th Street on Wednesday afternoon. A man was taken to hospital under the Mental Health Act.
