One person is in hospital with life-threatening injuries and another is in police custody following a stabbing in downtown Nanaimo, according to RCMP.
Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Mounties were called to the 100-block of Victoria Cresent for “a report of an altercation that resulted in one adult being stabbed,” says Const. Gary O’Brien, media relations officer with Nanaimo RCMP.
He says the suspect, a man in his 30s, fled on foot while the victim, also a man, was located a short distance away at the China Steps, where he was treated by paramedics and transported to hospital.
“I don’t have any information on the victim other than the victim is an adult man,” said O’Brien in an interview with CHEK News.
He says the man was stabbed with a knife.
“It was an altercation,” he said. “(The suspect) was confronted over an alleged theft of a purse that happened a few days before. During this altercation, one of the people who confronted the suspect was stabbed.”
Following the incident, officers located the suspect about 20 minutes later near Port Place Mall. He’s now in custody and facing a charge of assault with a weapon.
The knife, meanwhile, hasn’t been found, according to O’Brien. He says officers “are currently doing a search for that in the downtown area.” The purse also wasn’t found.
A police investigation is ongoing.
Ethan Morneau
