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
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.