A woman has died after being found with stab wounds in an underground parkade in Coquitlam yesterday. The Coquitlam RCMP say officers were called to Austin Avenue near Marmont Street around 4:30 p.m. “The victim was transported to hospital and sadly was pronounced dead a short time later,” The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been called in, and investigators are canvassing the area for witnesses. The victim has not been identified. Police are asking for dashcam footage from anyone driving in the area between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m.
Four people who were found dead in a Richmond home this week were members of the same family. Homicide investigators have confirmed the shooting victims were two men and two women, though they have not confirmed their relationships to each other. Police discovered the bodies at the duplex on Garden City Road near Alderbridge Way Tuesday night. When asked whether this is a case of a murder-suicide, police say it’s too early to say. However, they do say that all persons involved in and responsible for the homicide have been accounted for.
The latest number of people being hospitalized for COVID-19 around the province has reached 977, and 13 more people have died. The Health Ministry also says two-thousand, thirty-three more people have tested positive, though health officials note current numbers could be up to five times higher because of a lack of testing capacity. The ministry says 62 outbreaks are underway at long-term and assisted-living centres, as well as hospitals. It says 90 per cent of people 12 and over have now received two doses of a vaccine.
Truckers protesting a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border drivers and supporters from other parts of the country will start rolling into the Ottawa area today. It’s not clear how many will take part in a “freedom rally” planned for tomorrow on Parliament Hill, but Ottawa police are making plans to deal with thousands of demonstrators. Crowds lined highway overpasses in the Toronto area yesterday to show their support for a protest that has attracted people with extreme, far-right views, raising fears tomorrow’s rally could turn violent.
Police are once again issuing a warning for seniors to be vigilant of scammers as more elderly people are being tricked into handing over thousands of dollars in cash. Police say financial institutions should also be watching for seniors making unusually large withdrawals. She says police are investigating more than a dozen incidents of seniors being defrauded in the last two weeks, with one 73-year-old woman recently getting a call from someone posing as her granddaughter and claiming she needed 10-thousand dollars in bail money. An elderly South Surrey couple also fell victim to the same scam and lost about 9 thousand dollars police believe the fraudster learned specific details about the victim through social media.
Mounties in Surrey say a grenade turned in to the Guildford station yesterday has been disposed of, and there is no danger to police or the public. Someone found the device in a park on 102nd Ave near 160th Street and brought it to the station to turn it in. Police said they didn’t know whether the grenade was live and closed the location as a precaution. Several hours later explosives experts and Mounties safely disposed of the grenade. Police are urging the public to immediately contact police when they find a suspicious device or possible explosive.
Former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen has been charged with sexual assault. Vancouver police say the BC Prosecution Service approved the count against the 25-year-old, who currently plays in Russia, in connection with an incident that’s said to have happened in September 2017. Virtanen’s first court appearance on this charge is set for Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. in Vancouver Provincial Court. In May 2021, the VPD confirmed it was looking into sexual misconduct allegations against the hockey player after claims surfaced on social media. In posts, a woman claimed Virtanen sexually assaulted her in a Vancouver hotel when she was 18, despite her pleading for him to stop.
British Columbia health officials announced on Friday that there have been 2,137 new COVID-19 cases reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the province to 321,043. In a written statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said that there are 30,515 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Of the active cases, 990 (+13) COVID-positive individuals are currently hospitalized, and 141 (+0) are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
New cases and total active cases are broken down by health region as follows:
- Fraser Health: 740 new cases, 12,928 total active cases
- Vancouver Coastal Health: 394 new cases, 6,788 total active cases
- Interior Health: 569 new cases, 7,969 total active cases
- Northern Health: 170 new cases, 1,170 total active cases
- Island Health: 264 new cases, 1,654 total active cases
- Outside of Canada: No new cases, six total active cases
There have been nine new COVID-19-related deaths in British Columbia, for a total of 2,597 deaths in the province.
A 32-year-old mother from Maple Ridge has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in a parking lot in Coquitlam on Thursday afternoon. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Ramina Shah was initially transported to hospital but died a short time later. Her name and photo are being released to help identify witnesses who may have been in the area at the time of the stabbing. IHIT says that the incident appears to be isolated and targeted. IHIT is currently working with partners from Coquitlam RCMP, the Integrated Forensic Identification Section as well as the BC Coroners Service. Investigators are currently canvassing the scene for witnesses as well as CCTV footage for more evidence.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says she expects some COVID-19 restrictions on social gatherings to be lifted by Family Day, but a complete re-opening won’t be possible. The most recent public health orders, including those related to gatherings at sports events and concerts, are set to expire on February 16th. Henry says she’ll announce any changes a day earlier, but believes it’s possible to relax more public health orders partly because of the province’s high vaccination rate. She says they won’t be fully lifted, however, because global evidence suggests infections spread quickly without a phased Approach.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s concerned about the potential for violence during this weekend’s planned protest on Parliament Hill by truckers and others joining the crowd. Trudeau says the so-called “freedom convoy” is no longer simply a protest against the federal vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers. He says it’s morphed into a forum for a small minority of “very angry” people opposed to all public health measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. The big rigs began rolling into downtown Ottawa today, with some in attendance promising to stay put until Trudeau is forced out.
Councillors in Burnaby have endorsed a proposal for a gondola that would carry students and staff up Burnaby Mountain to the Simon Fraser University campus. Council has given its support to TransLink’s idea, saying the plan has a low environmental impact and will directly benefit Burnaby residents. The next step is to add the project to TransLink’s list of regional priorities over the next 10 years. TransLink estimates the roughly three-kilometre gondola line would need just five towers and early estimates say it could be built for about 210-million dollars. It says the annual operating costs could be below the current cost of running buses up and down the often weather-challenged road to the campus
Canada’s chief public health officer says multiple indicators suggest the Omicron (OH’-mih-kron) wave of the pandemic has peaked at the national level. Dr. Theresa Tam says officials are monitoring the new sub-variant of Omicron known as B-A-2, but so far it isn’t causing much concern. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is now recommending teenagers with underlying conditions or at high risk of COVID-19 exposure get a booster shot.