VANCOUVER -- Mounties are asking the public to help identify a suspect nearly five months after a man was assaulted by a stranger inside a Surrey thrift store.
The RCMP released a single surveillance camera image Thursday in connection with the Dec. 20 attack.
Officers said a man reported being assaulted by another man, whom he did not know, inside a thrift store on King George Boulevard. The victim's injuries were minor, the RCMP said in a statement.
The man is described as white and between 5'7" and 5'10". He has short, dark hair and a slim build, police say.
Anyone who recognizes the man or knows more about the assault is asked to call the RCMP, or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
As for the delay in releasing the photo, the RCMP statement said police first tried to identify the suspect in other ways.
Ultimately, they said, those efforts were unsuccessful, so the photo was released to advance the investigation.
Earlier this month, police in another Metro Vancouver city were criticized for waiting to make suspect photos public.
The Vancouver Police Department waited a month or more to ask for help in two major hate crime investigations, delays that lasted too long, according to members of the city's Chinese Community.
In one of those incidents, a suspect accused of shoving an elderly man was identified almost immediately after his photo was released.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Jon Woodward
