2 teens charged with aggravated assault in 2023 Surrey bus stabbing

People board a transit bus at night in Metro Vancouver.

Two teenagers have been charged with aggravated assault in connection to a stabbing that took place aboard a TransLink bus in Surrey last year, Metro Vancouver Transit Police announced Wednesday.

The accused are 19-year-old Ramadhan Ibrahim-Hussein, of Richmond, and a 17-year-old Surrey resident who cannot be named due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

MVTP said in a statement that both suspects are "known to police." They were arrested in September after a three-month investigation.

Online court records associated with the police file indicate that the charge against Ibrahim-Hussein was laid in December and he made his first court appearance on Jan. 20.

The charges stem from an incident aboard a bus near Guildford Mall on the afternoon of July 22, 2023.

Just before 3 p.m., the teenage victim and his girlfriend were involved in an altercation with two people at the mall, according to transit police. The conflict stemmed from "derogatory comments allegedly made to the girlfriend," police said.

The parties separated after a "brief interaction," but they soon ended up on the same bus on 104 Avenue near 152 Street.

"A second altercation took place, during which one of the suspects removed a knife from his pocket and stabbed the victim in the stomach before exiting onto 104 Avenue," MVTP said in their statement.

"The victim was transported to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery."

Police said the suspects in the attack had their faces covered and were wearing "nondescript clothing," making the task of identifying them difficult.

"Our detectives were more than up to the challenge," said Const. Amanda Steed, in the statement.

"The investigation highlights that violent crime will never be tolerated on transit and all steps will be taken by transit police to hold offenders accountable for their actions."