A 33-year-old Vancouver man has been charged with 12 criminal counts in connection with a vicious stabbing spree in the West End that put six people in hospital Thursday.
Suspect Jerome Bonneric is charged with four counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, three counts of common assault and one count of assaulting a police officer.
Police said Bonneric has no prior criminal record, and is being held in custody pending a court appearance next week.
The shocking incident shook the neighbourhood as news spread that seven people had been attacked with a knife and a hammer inside an apartment building at Barclay and Bute streets.
PHOTO GALLERY: Vancouver stabbing spree
Sgt. Randy Fincham said the victims appear to have been attacked at random.
“It appears that a lot of these victims were unrelated to each other,” Fincham said Thursday night. “It was something that possibly happened in the hallway.”
Three women and three men were rushed to hospital with various wounds. Two have since been released, while another four remain in treatment.
One victim is clinging to life in critical condition.
A police officer was also hurt but did not require hospitalization.
The shocking attack startled neighbours, including Howard Carley, a Good Samaritan who helped police catch a suspect.
Carley told CTV News he stepped out of his apartment Thursday night to investigate a noise and saw a man standing in the stairwell holding a hammer.
“He was rambling the whole time in French and sometimes in English, part of it was telling he was going to kill me,” Carley said.
The man struck Carley on the arm with a hammer. A fight ensued that eventually spilled into Carley’s living room, where he managed to pin his assailant just as police stormed in.
Neighbours say the suspect doesn’t live in the building, but has been seen there before visiting a friend.
Bonneric is due to appear in court on Monday morning.
