Burnaby Mounties are investigating whether two assaults last weekend were racially motivated.
In the first case, a man was standing on the street near Patterson Avenue and Sardis Street just after midnight Saturday morning when a suspect came out of nowhere and began assaulting him.
The victim, described by police as South Asian, told investigators the man didn’t demand or say anything and may have been scared off by a passing car.
The suspect was described as a white man in his 30s or 40s.
Shortly after, and in the same area, an unknown man jumped out of the bushes and tried to grab or tear at a woman’s hijab.
Police said the suspect also may have used a racial epithet during the assault.
Neither of the victims was physically hurt.
Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Maj. John Buis said the investigation into the incidents is ongoing, but police don’t know yet if the assaults were racially motivated. He noted investigators are waiting on translators to speak to the woman in the second assault.
“At this point, we just don’t know,” Buis told the NOW, adding investigators haven’t matched the description of the suspect. “If it is (racially motivated), that’s something different than just a simple assault. We haven’t had anything like this that I’m aware of recently, and it’s just very unfortunate.”
At this point, the RCMP doesn’t believe the public is at risk.
