A Coquitlam man has been arrested following a string of unprovoked assaults last month on Vancouver's west side.
Colin Akwei, 39, has been charged with one count of assault and one count of assault with a weapon, but police said Thursday more charges could be on the way.
Vancouver Police Department Sgt. Jason Robillard told media yesterday investigators are still trying to determine what prompted the attacks.
"Investigators are still working diligently to try and uncover a motive here," he said during a press conference at VPD headquarters. "Right now, it is not clear what the motive was."
Police put out a public plea for information March 6 after four assaults were carried out by a man matching the same description last month.
The first two incidents occurred Feb. 5 just before and just after 5 p.m. in the area of West 2nd Avenue and Burrard Street, and West Broadway and Alma Street. A third incident occurred Feb. 22 just after 10 p.m. near Granville Street and West Broadway, and the last one happened Feb. 24 just after midnight at West Broadway and Laurel Street.
In each case, Robillard said, the suspect approached a victim on a sidewalk or in a convenience store and punched, elbowed or pushed the person before walking away. The incidents were random, he added, noting several victims suffered minor injuries.
"They were very minor physical injuries," Robillard said. "There are other injuries associated with this — emotional injuries and things like that. We always keep that under consideration. We are fortunate that nobody was harmed seriously physically."
He added that the victims were varied: an Asian man in his 20s, a South Asian woman in her early 20s, a Caucasian man in his early 20s and a Caucasian woman in her early 40s.
A photo of the suspect taken from surveillance footage at a convenience store was released to the public last week, which prompted a member of the public to come forward.
"Acting on a tip from the public, investigators identified Mr. Akwei, and, just after 3 p.m. yesterday, he was arrested in Coquitlam," Robillard said, reading from a prepared statement.
@gmckennaTC
– with files from The Vancouver Courier
