VANCOUVER -- Almost two months after a Muslim teenager in a hijab was attacked on public transit, police have managed to identify a suspect.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police said they are recommending several charges against a 36-year-old woman of no fixed address, including assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and failure to comply with a probation order.
The suspect, whose name hasn't been released, is scheduled to appear in Vancouver provincial court in September.
Authorities described the initial attack as an apparent hate crime. The victim, a 17-year-old girl, boarded a bus in downtown Vancouver with her mother on May 21 and was accosted by a fellow passenger.
Police said the suspect mocked the teen's ethnicity and asked if she was Canadian, then began punching her repeatedly in the head. Her headscarf was partially knocked off during the attack.
The suspect also allegedly assaulted a Good Samaritan who followed her off the bus. Police said the woman brandished a knife before running away from the scene.
