Unearthed documents reveal that the suspect involved in the triple-stabbing in Vancouver Chinatown was a known risk, and now the BC government is calling on a former police chief for an independent investigation.
BC Premier David Eby revealed the development during an education-related announcement in Langley.
Bob Rich, the former Abbotsford police chief, will oversee the independent investigation.
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Vancouver police revealed the news about the stabbing on Sunday, but since then, more information has trickled out about the suspect, leading to grave concerns about why the incident occurred.
CHEK News uploaded documents it obtained about how the suspect, Blair Evan Donnelly, was released from a psychiatric facility on a day pass, unsupervised, leading to the violent incident during a festival in Vancouver Chinatown.
A British Columbia Review Board decision held on April 13 of this year reveals some troubling insights about Donnelly’s eventual release.
The documents reveal that Donnelly was considered a “significant threat” with a high chance of “relapse.”
Eby expressed his “profound anger and unhappiness that this happened.”
“Never should have happened,” Eby added.
After the initial news of the stabbing broke out, the public learned that Donnelly was previously charged with his daughter’s death. The documents say that Donnelly “brutally stabbed his 16-year-old daughter in the neck, heart, and back in response to religious delusions.”
“He feels bad that he is no longer in the community, but he copes by taking one day at a time,” the documents continue.
The review board decision says that one significant concern was that all the incidents following his daughter’s death, before the Chinatown incident, occurred “without warning signs and that the two relapses occurred after lengthy periods of remission without any indicators of decompensation.”
“When ill, Mr. Donnelly has no insight into his deterioration. He requires significant supervision to ensure he does not cause further harm to the public.”
One final thing to note was that Donnelly’s following review was supposed to be in December, stating “it is unlikely that Mr. Donnelly will be placed and ready for the next stage within six months, but that, given the rough timeline provided by Mr. Bray, reintegration could reasonably occur in an eight-month period.”