Random machete attack sends 2 to hospital: Vancouver police

Two people were taken to the hospital after being "slashed with a machete" by a stranger on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Sunday, according to police.

A report of a man with a weapon was received by an officer on patrol near the Empress Hotel around 7 p.m.

"The officer discovered two people who had been slashed with a machete while loading luggage into a waiting taxi," according to a statement from the Vancouver Police Department.

"The attack left both victims with head and neck wounds that required hospitalization, but both are expected to recover."

A suspect has not been identified but is described as a "heavy-set" man in his 40s. At the time, police say he was wearing a grey T-shirt, a blue raincoat, and carrying an umbrella.

The incident is one of five that the VPD released information about Monday, saying there were "several violent and seemingly random incidents that kept VPD officers busy" over the weekend.

Police are also investigating a woman being slapped by a stranger while riding the bus, a man who was stabbed in the stomach while leaving a concert and a man who was bear-sprayed and stabbed by a group of "six to eight teens." Everyone who was injured is expected to recover.

Descriptions of these incidents can be found here.