Nanaimo’s mayor says the 29-year-old man killed in Maffeo Sutton Park in an apparently random stabbing had disabilities, making a senseless and tragic attack that much more concerning.
Mounties were called to the downtown waterfront area Monday night at around 11:30 p.m. for a report that youths were intimidating and harassing a security guard.
When they arrived, the youths had fled, but that’s when one officer discovered a 29-year-old man who had been stabbed and later died from his injuries in hospital.
A 19-year-old man was arrested near the scene without incident and a 17-year-old male was also arrested a short while later. Both suspects remain in police custody. Police said they are also trying to find a third individual linked to the stabbing.
On Wednesday, Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said the victim was among the city’s most vulnerable residents.
“No motive, no association, no reason. It is just a horrible human tragedy and I sincerely hope the perpetrators are brought to justice and the full force of the law,” Krog told CHEK News. “I don’t care what the reason is, there is no excuse for this kind of, obviously, vicious violence in a community park where people go to recreate and find some solace and peace.”
Police tape cordons off a section of Nanaimo’s Maffeo Sutton Park following a fatal stabbing a night earlier. Sept. 6, 2022. (CHEK News)
The mayor said he learned the victim had disabilities through community resource groups and one of his friends.
“This person was more vulnerable than many in our streets, and for anyone to attack them just makes it that much more frustrating and increases the public anger, and the anger and sadness that I think we all feel for the individual and his family,” Krog said.
Nanaimo RCMP did not have an update on the investigation or the victim on Wednesday. A day earlier, spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien said investigators haven’t established any connection between the victims and suspects.
“We don’t know what precipitated this attack. All we know is these individuals had no connection between them,” he said.
No charges have been laid and there does not appear to be any risk to the public, according to RCMP.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 and quote file number 2022-31326.
CHEK News
