Local gym owner attacked, blames pandemic for heightened tensions in Gastown
Posted April 29, 2020 6:28 pm.
Last Updated April 29, 2020 6:34 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — After a local gym owner was attacked in Gastown Tuesday morning, he’s warning others to be careful, saying tensions are on the rise during the pandemic.
“All my friends in Gastown, and I’ve been there a decade and a half, I have dozens of friends there. They’re scared, they’re concerned, they see things, feelings are different, energies are different on the street. It’s a very different vibe in Gastown as it has been,” Kurt Luzny tells NEWS 1130.
He says he was sweeping up some broken glass outside his business on Pender Street. when another man passed and apparently confronted Luzny about sweeping glass in his direction.
After a brief conversation, the gym owner says he was assaulted.
Vancouver Police say Luzny was assaulted, then tracked the other man down. That’s when a struggle ensued between the two men near Keefer Place and Abbott Street.
An officer called to the scene broke up the fight and arrested the 39-year-old attacker, police say.
Luzny was taken to the hospital where he had to get several stitches near his eye.
He says he feels this is all part of a change in mindset for the people in his neighbourhood over the last six weeks.
“Just this past weekend, each day, I saw someone carrying a baseball bat or a club just walking down the street,” Luzny says.
But he says now isn’t the time to play hero.
“Just have your eyes open, you know. Just really watch that you don’t have an emotional reaction to what’s going on around you,” Luzny says. “If you see someone looking suspicious, in happier days you might have just brushed that off and walk passed them, maybe cross the street. Don’t be afraid to cross the street.”
Luzny also claims there was a weapon used during the attack, though police have not confirmed that.
“There does not appear to be any weapon involved in the assault, but the information has been presented to Crown for their review,” police say in an email.
Police say the man who attacked Luzny is still in custody.
-With files from Martin MacMahon
