Vancouver marks first homicide of 2019
Posted January 2, 2019 11:22 am.
Last Updated January 2, 2019 2:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver has marked its first homicide of the new year.
Police say 39-year-old Matthew Dillen Johnson was killed near Powell and Gore Streets Tuesday evening.
“At around 8 p.m., Vancouver police and the BC Ambulance Service were called to an apartment in the Downtown Eastside, where they located a 39-year-old man in obvious medical distress. He died at the scene,” Cst. Jason Doucette said.
He did not elaborate on the injuries the man suffered before he died, but called them “traumatic.”
Investigators have not shared a possible motive for this attack.
https://twitter.com/martinmacmahon/status/1080575311392034816
https://twitter.com/martinmacmahon/status/1080575311392034816
“Investigators are continuing to collect evidence to help identify those responsible and what may have led to this person’s death,” Doucette said. “Based on the initial investigations, detectives do not feel that the general public is at risk.”
Investigators are asking for anyone with information about this homicide to contact them at 604.717.2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1.800.222.8477.
Last year, there were 15 homicides in Vancouver.
“I think that’s on average over the years past,” Doucette said.
“Like every other crime, statistics go up and down and go throughout the year. We started really high last year and things levelled off. One homicide in our city is too much and we’re going to take steps to identify the person or persons responsible for this one.”
– With files from Martin MacMahon
