RCMP halt crime spree in Lower Mainland
By Contributor
Around 6 p.m. Jan. 5, the Richmond RCMP responded to a collision on Highway 99. Allegedly, the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the collision ran to a nearby home where he stabbed a resident and stole the resident’s car.
The same night, at around 7 p.m., a man was withdrawing money from the automated teller machine (ATM) at the TD Canada Trust Bank located at Kingsway Avenue and Victoria Drive when he was attacked inside the bank. The victim was stabbed several times and was robbed of his money. He received superficial stab wounds and was treated by paramedics.
Moments later, a car travelling southbound on Victoria Drive at 27th Ave., less than two blocks from the bank, was involved in a head-on collision. The car in that collision had been stolen in the earlier home invasion in Richmond.
The driver from the stolen car attempted to car-jack another vehicle that stopped to assist with the collision. Both the driver and front passenger in that car, a husband and wife, received slash wounds as the suspect hacked at them through the open driver’s window, while their children, aged seven and ten, remained in the back seat. The victims were able to escape by driving away. The man and woman in the car were treated in hospital.
The suspect then went across the street to the Esso Gas Station at Victoria Drive and Kingsway Avenue, car-jacked a Honda Civic and drove off.
Shortly after 11 p.m. that night, the man believed to be responsible for the series of violent robberies in Richmond and Vancouver was arrested with the assistance of the RCMP Police Dog Service, after police in Surrey located the stolen Honda Civic that he had been allegedly driving.
The ATM robbery, collision on Victoria Drive, attempted car-jacking on Victoria Dr. and the car-jacking at the Esso Gas Station in Vancouver are currently being investigated by the Vancouver Police Major Crime Section.
The suspect, a 30-year-old Delta man, is facing a host of criminal charges in multiple jurisdictions, is known to police, and remains in Vancouver Police custody pending his next court appearance.
