‘Shaken to my core’: Mother considers leaving Vancouver after verbal attack by stranger

A Sunday stroll connected nan seawall successful Yaletown took a terrifying move for a Vancouver mother and her babe aft a random verbal onslaught by a man near her shaken to nan constituent she is readying to time off nan city.

Global News has agreed to withhold her personality complete information concerns and mention to her arsenic Anna.

Anna says she was pushing her one-year-old’s stroller adjacent nan seawall by Cambie Bridge and nan marina astir 8:45 a.m. connected July 28, erstwhile a man came up down them.

“He was screaming and yelling threats and obscenities, but he was yelling them to himself, arsenic if he was having a conflict pinch personification wrong his ain head,” Anna said.

She says she decided to transverse nan street, but nan man followed, and his obscenities became much pointed towards her.

“Then he started to yell, you f –ing b—. You deliberation I can’t drawback you? I tin f—ing drawback you, you f –ing b—,” she said.

Anna says she yelled for thief and ran down a ramp onto nan seawall wherever bystanders intervened and surrounded her and her child.

“Another personification pinch a stroller was besides there, and he walked to nan area to fto nan constabulary cognize what was happening,” she said, adding nan fishy went complete to this 2nd person, yelled astatine him and kicked him.

She says constabulary took nan fishy into custody wrong minutes of some incidents.

“I consciousness shaken to my halfway because I had nan babe pinch me. And what would person happened if he caught me? I americium truthful scared,” Anna said.

Const. Tania Visintin pinch nan Vancouver Police Department confirmed nan fishy was taken into custody but has since been released.

Anna says constabulary told her that thing nan man did to her was forbidden and it was improbable thing other that happened would consequence successful charges.

However, nan record remains nether investigation, according to Visintin, and officers are moving to spot if charges tin beryllium recommended to Crown counsel.

Visintin says nan fishy was besides allegedly progressive successful 2 different incidents nan aforesaid day.

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When asked if VPD is seeing an summation successful akin incident successful Yaletown, Visintin says it’s “something we’re seeing each complete nan city.”

“This speaks to a greater issue, a greater intelligence wellness issue, beyond policing,” she said.

In March, VPD Chief Const. Adam Palmer said contempt immoderate high-profile attacks, alien assaults successful Vancouver had declined by half year-over-year successful nan first 2 months of 2024 and convulsive crime successful wide besides decreased.

However, for immoderate specified arsenic Anna, nan statistic whitethorn not consciousness arsenic existent pursuing Sunday’s incident.

This is not nan first clip she says she has seen group successful nan area talking to themselves and yelling. After this latest incident, however, she says she does not want to locomotion successful that area again and that nan family is moving retired of Vancouver.

“I don’t understand why these group who are experiencing a intelligence wellness situation are not successful accommodation getting help,” she said.

“They’re going to wounded themselves aliases they’re going to wounded others, and I can’t comprehend why we’re conscionable letting humans locomotion astir connected nan thoroughfare successful this state. They request thief and they don’t request to beryllium conscionable near connected nan thoroughfare to their ain devices.”