A teenage suspect has been arrested after someone entered an East Vancouver home overnight and started stabbing a man as he slept.
The terrifying home invasion happened around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday at a residence on Ferndale Street near Lakewood Drive, where an intruder attacked a 27-year-old for no apparent reason.
"[The victim] was woken to someone actually stabbing him. Obviously very frightening for anybody to wake up to a situation like that, very traumatic," Staff Sgt. Randy Fincham told reporters hours after the attack.
It's unclear how or why the assailant entered the home in the first place; Fincham said police haven't determined whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The victim suffered significant but non-life-threatening injuries, and has since been treated and released from hospital.
Around 45 minutes after the home invasion, police managed to locate a man matching the suspect description around Pender Street and Garden Drive, but he ran off when they tried to question him.
A 19-year-old suspect was eventually tracked down and arrested with help from a K9 unit.
The young man suffered a minor injury during the arrest, but police couldn't confirm whether it was the result of a dog bite.
Fincham said the suspect is new to Vancouver and not known to local police. He doesn't appear to have a criminal history elsewhere in Canada either.
The teenager also has no apparent connections to anyone living in the Ferndale home.
"We don't believe that any of them knew [the suspect] prior to this happening last night," Fincham said.
Police said it appears someone was breaking into cars in the area overnight, and that there could be a connection to the home invasion.
Anyone who had their car broken into, or who saw something out of the ordinary near their vehicle or home, is asked to call Vancouver police.
