Vancouver coffee shop stabbing victim speaks out about his terrifying ordeal
The bandages are a painful reminder of an experience Miguel Angel Zepeda Machorro wishes he could forget. The 25-year-old Mexican man is visiting Vancouver, and was the victim of a vicious attack inside a downtown Tim Hortons last week.
He doesn’t speak English, but, through a translator, he told CTV News about the terrifying ordeal, and how he feared for his life.
"He says he's having a lot of pain around the area where the two stabbings went in on the side and in his arm," said Machorro’s translator. "He feels a lot of anxiety. He feels that when he's outside, he says that he feels somebody's going to attack him in the back. He feels insecure, anywhere he goes."
On Saturday, Jan. 22, Vancouver police say the 25-year-old was rushed to hospital with life-threatening stab wounds. The attack occurred around 6:20 a.m. inside the Tim Hortons at Harbour Centre, near Seymour and West Hastings streets. The victim, a newcomer to Canada, was waiting in line when the suspect approached from behind and repeatedly stabbed him in the back and shoulder before running out of the store. Police took the rare step of releasing surveillance video of the attack, due to their increasing worry about the public’s safety.
Thanks to a number of tips from the public, Vancouver police say they made an arrest in the case on Tuesday, Jan. 25, shortly after 4 p.m. near Granville and Helmcken streets. Twenty-seven-year-old David Richard Morin has been charged with one count of aggravated assault. He remains in custody.
"He says he hopes he's not let go, to be free out with everybody else,” Machorro’s translator said. “It happened to him it can happen to anybody else as well."
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with medical bills totalling in the thousands of dollars, as well as other expenses, to help his recovery.
"He remembers going into the Tim Hortons,” said Machorro’s translator. “He says he remembers lining up and a person walked by on his side and then all of a sudden he fell. Then, after he watched the video he realized it didn't happen in his mind the way he was thinking.”
With no family in Vancouver, Machorro says he is thankful for all of the support and messages he has been getting from the community. Doctors say he is incredibly lucky to have even survived. They told him if the knife was two centimetres in a different direction, there’s a very good chance he might have died. Doctors say his physical wounds should take up to two months to heal, but the attack, of course, has had severe negative implications on his mental health.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
India's foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
India's Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP's recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
15-year-old boy stabbed in Ottawa on Thursday dies
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Dash cam catches moment suspected drunk driver hits parked car, sends it careening into North Shore flower shop
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
Actor Bernard Hill, of 'Titanic' and 'Lord of the Rings,' has died at 79
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
'A tiny city:' Pro-Palestinian campus protesters organize for another week
Pro-Palestinian activists have set up tents at universities in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal, following a wave of similar protests at campuses in the United States linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
Lawsuit against Meta asks if Facebook users have right to control their feeds using external tools
Do social media users have the right to control what they see — or don't see — on their feeds?
A Holocaust survivor will mark that history differently after the horrors of Oct. 7
This year's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on Sunday evening in Israel, carries a heavier weight than usual for many Jews around the world.
Princess Anne lays wreath at Battle of Atlantic ceremony; honours late Queen
Princess Anne saluted Canadian veterans and current forces members and honoured her late mother during separate ceremonies Sunday in Victoria as she wrapped up a three-day British Columbia West Coast royal visit.
El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.