A man who stabbed two people in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday and was subsequently shot by police has died, according to a statement from the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), the civilian-led agency responsible for police oversight in B.C.
Police said just after 11:30 a.m., they responded to a call from staff at a restaurant near Robson and Hamilton streets. The caller reported a man had stolen alcohol and was armed with a knife inside the restaurant.
Witnesses told the Canadian Press he used the weapon to stab people across the street at a 7-Eleven store close to the Vancouver Central Public Library.
Onlookers told CBC News shots were fired near the 7-Eleven.
Const. Tania Visintin said police had shot a suspect who stabbed two people. She said police and first responders administered first aid before the man was taken to hospital, where he died.
Visintin said the victims’ injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
The IIO says it is investigating. It is asking any witnesses to contact the agency at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on its website.
Kylie Noel, who was working at the Original Joe’s restaurant at Robson and Hamilton streets on Wednesday, told The Canadian Press a man came into the restaurant and stood by its door, opened a laptop computer and “demanded a glass of water.”
Noel said she refused and went back to tell kitchen staff that the man was refusing to leave.
She said he had left by the time other workers came out, but Noel then saw him outside with a bottle of alcohol she believed was stolen from the restaurant, which she later confirmed by watching security camera footage.
When Noel returned to the restaurant’s main floor, the man was again behind the bar, and Noel ran back down to tell her colleagues in the kitchen.
“One of the kitchen guys came out, asked if he could help him, and the guy grabbed the knife and asked him if he wanted to die,” Noel said
Her co-worker then told her to call police. She said she ran into a neighbouring hotel lobby and stayed on the phone with police as she described the man.
Mainul Islam, a part-time delivery worker who was outside the 7-Eleven, said he witnessed the incident and saw a man brandishing a knife inside the 7-Eleven.
“It’s a terrible scene,” he said. (CBC)