A suspect has been shot following a stabbing spree that injured multiple people in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday.
According to Vancouver police, the “violent incident” took place around noon near Robson and Hamilton streets.
“A number of people have been stabbed, and the suspect has been shot by police,” read a short update shared by Vancouver police to X.
“We’ll provide more info when it’s available.”
A video seen by The Canadian Press shows police aiming their guns over the counter of a convenience store and firing at least 10 times.
A stun gun held by an officer appears to have already been fired, with the wires trailing over the counter inside the 7-Eleven store.
“Move over, right now. Move over,” one officer shouts at the unseen suspect before gunfire is heard.
Another video shows two people being wheeled away on stretchers, with a firefighter performing chest compressions on one of them.
Mainul Islam, a student and part-time delivery worker who captured the scene on video, says he was stopped by police from entering the store before witnessing the shooting of a man he described as “homeless.”
No further details were immediately available, and the status of the victims and the suspect are unknown. Police have not said exactly how many people were injured or what may have prompted the stabbing.
According to a person who answered the phone at the nearby Stella Nails, located at 330 Robson St., the salon was placed under lockdown while the incident was unfolding and no one was permitted in or out of the salon.
The person told Postmedia they saw a woman who appeared injured outside the salon. The person then also heard shots and saw another individual they believed was the suspect lying on the ground.
The stabbings took place just blocks from where another violent stabbing took place earlier this fall.
On the morning of Sept. 4, Vancouver police responded to the area of Dunsmuir and Richards street where a victim said they had been attacked just outside the Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Officers arriving to the scene found a 56-year-old man who had been attacked with a knife and was bleeding from his head while his left hand had been severed.
Minutes later, officers were called to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre near West Georgia and Hamilton, where another man had been fatally stabbed.
Brendon Colin McBride, a White Rock resident, was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault.
Meanwhile, a man was arrested in Surrey following a stabbing in Newton on Wednesday morning.
According to the Surrey Police Service, a man called police around 10 a.m. to say he had been stabbed several times in the arm following an incident near 73rd Avenue and 130th Street.
Officers who responded were able to apply first aid to the victim while waiting for am ambulance. Other officers, with the help of a canine unit, searched the area and found a male suspect who was arrested without incident.
During the incident, Princess Margaret Secondary was placed under temporary hold-and-secure protocol as a precaution. The lockdown has since been lifted.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 130th Street remains closed between 73rd and 74th avenues while investigators are on scene.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or who may have dashboard or surveillance footage of the area is asked to contact police at 604-599-0502.
More to come.
With files from Canadian Press.