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
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Explosion at train station leads to discovery of stolen car on Montreal's South Shore: police
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
Parliamentary report on Emergencies Act decision is 18 months past due — and counting
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A candidate for Germany's key party was beaten up while campaigning for European elections
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.