20-year-old charged with 2nd-degree murder in Surrey bus homicide of Ethan Bespflug

Kaiden Mintenko of Burnaby has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of 17-year-old Ethan Bespflug last week on a Surrey bus.

"Investigators are still working to determine the exact nature of the relationship between the two, but we can confirm this was not a random attack," said Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).

"They were known to each other through a third party." 

Pierotti said Mintenko, 20, was arrested at a residence in Burnaby and is known to police. He said it took six days to take him into custody because police wanted to "ensure a safe arrest."

"We're still working to determine the motive. We're out speaking to as many witnesses as we can," he said.

Bespflug was stabbed while riding the 503 bus near the King George SkyTrain station, while his mother says she waited at home to come pick him up. He was taken to hospital in critical condition, where he died.

His mother realized something was wrong when she tracked her son's phone to the Royal Columbian Hospital in New
Westminster.

Moments before he was stabbed, Bespflug texted her that he was scared because other people on the bus were threatening him, according to family.

Investigators say there is no connection to Bespflug's stabbing and other recent knife attacks on the public transit system.

Metro Vancouver Transit Police Chief Dave Jones said law enforcement agencies stepped up patrols of transit within hours of the killing. 

"These will all be maintained as we look at long-term solutions," he said. "This is an anomaly, the number of events that have occurred of this nature on the transit system that moved hundreds of thousands of people a day."

Pierotti said police were still working to determine if other people were involved.

Mother says news is bittersweet

Bespflug's mother, Holly Indridson, said that she was "really happy" that someone had been arrested in her son's killing, but the news was bittersweet.

"It's still very hard to believe that this is our real life right now," she told CBC News. "My whole being is ruined ... I think my soul is gone. Like, it just feels crushed into nothing.

"I hope that the charges stay and that this individual is in jail for life."

Plans for unified approach on transit crime

Bespflug's death sparked calls in the legislature for more to be done regarding violence on public transit, especially after other incidents in Surrey and New Westminster.

Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon of the B.C. United Party asked for "concrete steps" to make people feel safer during Monday's Question Period.

"As a father and as parents, we all share the heartache and the outrage that no parent should ever have to endure such a devastating loss," Falcon said.

In response, Premier David Eby said that he was working with other premiers and chiefs of police nationally in order to put forward unified recommendations for public violence.

"At the national level, the minister of public safety has reached out to his counterpart Minister [Marco] Mendicino, to make sure that we're part of any federal response that they're preparing," he said.

Eby also said the province is rolling out more public safety measures like transit police introducing new community safety officers and the so-called enforcement hubs made up of police, dedicated prosecutors and probation officers to target repeat violent offenders in 12 B.C. communities.