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
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
NDP want Liberals to scrap proposed election date change that could secure pensions for many MPs
The federal New Democrats want to amend the Liberal government's electoral reform legislation to scrap the proposal to push back the vote by a week and consequently secure pensions for dozens of MPs, CTV News has learned.
These are the world's 20 best cities for foodies, according to Time Out
Some travellers pick a city break based on the destination’s cultural offerings. Others eye up cities with buzzy nightlife or opt for a destination hosting a festival or event. But for many vacationers, the most exciting part of any trip is the food.
Israel's war cabinet minister moves to dissolve parliament: statement
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party has proposed holding a vote to dissolve parliament in a bid to bring about an early election, his party said in a statement on Thursday.
DEVELOPING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Exorbitant fees get Gazans out with no help from Ottawa
The comforting sound of giggling grandchildren has chased away the cloud of anxiety that has loomed over Mohammed and Intisar Nofal's home for the past seven months.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., begins RBC Canadian Open defence
Nick Taylor begins the defence of his RBC Canadian Open title this morning.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."