Metro Vancouver moms concerned about group of youths assaulting people at random
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find disturbing.
A group of parents afraid for their children’s safety—and their own—has banded together to find ways to stop random violence.
A Port Coquitlam mother, whom CTV News is calling Beth, said her preteen daughter was swarmed and brutally beaten. Since the incidents involved youths, CTV News cannot identify the parent.
“(They) savagely gang beat her really, really badly. They pulled out chunks of her hair. Her ears looked like boxer ears. They broke all her fake nails off one hand. Yeah, she was covered in blood, super bruised and beaten and obviously upset,” Beth said.
She’s able to describe what happened because she saw the assault on video.
The incident happened in late June at Port Coquitlam’s Lions Park.
“It’s not just about a victim. It's about this being a problem in our community that's happening to people all over the place for a multitude of different reasons,” Beth said.
Another mother, whom CTV News is calling Denise, said her son was jumped while he was fishing at the Coquitlam River at the same park.
She said her son called her for help and she was able to get to the scene relatively quickly, where she confronted the youths.
Since she saw the youths who targeted her son, she was shocked when she saw the same youths appear in videos assaulting Beth’s daughter.
“You can imagine my dismay when I found out a year later, that at the same park, the same youths had lured and viciously beat another youth in our community. I was devastated,” Denise said.
From their conversations with other parents, they believe it is the same group of youths carrying out these random attacks.
“I think they're doing it partly for notoriety. They're filming it and putting it on social media. I think they're aspiring to be gangsters. They think it's cool. They think it's going to make them friends and be 'internet famous,'” Beth said.
MORE THAN A THOUSAND SIGNATURES GARNERED
Several parents got together and started Tri-Cities Safe Streets in an effort to make their communities safer.
They’ve started a petition, which has now garnered more than a thousand signatures.
The petition outlines steps local government, school districts and police can take, including increasing police presence, adding emergency phones, expanding education programs to deter youth from gang initiation, focusing on youth outreach and mentorship, and enhancing surveillance.
“So, we're not looking to punish them. We're looking to help them change for the better so they can be successful members of society and not have to fall back to these patterns that are hurting people all over the place,” Beth said.
CTV News has reached out to the three Tri-Cities mayors and Coquitlam RCMP. Many did not respond in time for deadline and one mayor was away.
Tri-Cities Safe Streets hopes their requests will not be ignored.
“It's only a matter of time before somebody becomes disabled or is killed through this happening and it needs to be taken seriously,” Beth said.
They are hoping for a meeting with the three mayors soon.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.
Ontario doctors disciplined over Israel-Gaza protests
A number of doctors are facing scrutiny for publicizing their opinions on the Israel-Hamas war. Critics say expressing their political views could impact patient care, while others say that it is being used as an excuse for censorship.
Here is what Canada's drug shortage situation looks like right now
Compared to the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, Canada experienced an uptick in prescription drug shortages in 2022 that Health Canada says has continued throughout 2023.
Annual Lego exhibit in Halifax inspires new generation of builders
Owen Grace has spent the last 20 years sharing his childhood hobby, Lego, through an exhibit he calls, 'Bricks by the Sea.'
'No concessions' St-Onge says in $100M a year news deal with Google
The Canadian government has reached a deal with Google over the Online News Act that will see the tech giant pay $100 million annually to publishers, and continue to allow access to Canadian news content on its platform. This comes after Google had threatened to block news on its platform when the contentious new rules come into effect next month.
'We wish we could've reached that kid earlier,' says online educator about boy's suicide after apparent sextortion
The chat may seem innocuous at first. The victims, often young men or boys, start communicating with someone posing as a young girl, typically on the popular social media platforms Instagram and Snapchat. But with sextortion, which occurs when people are blackmailed for money or sexual favours, 'sextorters' convince them to share a sexual photo or video.
Live updates Hamas frees 10 Israeli women and children, 4 Thai nationals
Ten Israeli women and children and four Thai nationals held captive in Gaza were freed by Hamas, and Israel followed with the release of a group of Palestinian prisoners Thursday. It was the latest exchange of hostages for prisoners under a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war. Two Russian-Israeli women were also freed by Hamas in a separate release.
Provinces are moving away from pap smears, but more infrastructure is needed
Some provinces are moving to HPV tests as the primary mode of cervical cancer screening, and others are close behind, an expert says.
opinion Don Martin: With Trudeau resignation fever rising, a Conservative nightmare appears
With speculation rising that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will follow his father's footsteps in the snow to a pre-election resignation, political columnist Don Martin focuses on one Liberal cabinet minister who's emerging as leadership material -- and who stands out as a fresh-faced contrast to the often 'angry and abrasive' leader of the Conservatives.