Vancouver police arrest 29-year-old man for assault on visually impaired senior in city's West End
69-year-old victim was punched in stomach without provocation, on a crosswalk at Thurlow, Alberni streets
Vancouver police have arrested a 29-year-old suspect in a daytime attack on a visually impaired senior in the city's West End neighbourhood last month.
A spokesperson for the police said the man has been arrested but not yet charged in an investigation into the March 31 assault.
"We can't name the suspect because he hasn't yet been formally charged," said Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison in an email Saturday.
The 69-year-old victim was punched in the stomach without provocation on a crosswalk at Thurlow and Alberni streets, police said earlier this month.
Addison said the investigation is continuing, and the suspect has been released from custody. A court date for his hearing has not yet been given.
The victim was walking with a cane and wearing a bright yellow, high-visibility jacket at the time of the attack, but was not left with injuries, police said at the time.
The report of the attack comes after city officials said that safety concerns over the number of recent unprovoked stranger assaults have poured into city hall — along with calls to provide more housing and mental health supports for vulnerable residents.
On Friday, VPD's deputy chief Howard Chow wrote on Twitter that the suspect was a 29-year-old man "with a history of violent crimes and mental illness," but said the force has recently made "gains" in investigating a string of stranger assaults.
"We continue to hear from people who feel less safe," Chow tweeted Friday afternoon. "We take your concerns seriously, and there's still work to do.
"The common thread in these cases is that citizens took action to help solve these crimes ... Please call police if you are a victim, or have information about a crime."
Talked a lot lately about random violence in Vancouver, and we continue to hear from people who feel less safe. We take your concerns seriously, and there’s still work to do. But, we're making gains in our efforts to solve stranger assaults. A thread 🧵about some recent cases: <a href="https://t.co/K6BaSIsetC">pic.twitter.com/K6BaSIsetC</a>
—@DeputyChowPolice have said there are more than four unprovoked stranger attacks in the city a day, according to a review of reported assaults between Sept. 1, 2020 and Aug. 31, 2021.
"This can be very distressing for the community when incidents like this continue to happen," said VPD Const. Tania Visintin in an April 8 statement.
However, there is no data available from previous years to confirm there was an increase.
Police had appealed on April 8 for any witnesses to the assault to come forward as part of their investigation.
With files from Jon Hernandez and David P. Ball