"Never thought I'd be attacked": Vancouver realtor speaks out after stranger assault

A realtor in Vancouver is speaking out after he says he was attacked by a stranger in the Strathcona neighbourhood on Saturday afternoon.

In an interview with Daily Hive, James Hoenisch says he was talking with a colleague outside a building near Main Street when this happened.

“Some guy came up to me and he asks what I was doing, what we’re doing. I just said, ‘Hey, we’re working.’ And then he just started mumbling some weird stuff. And then he’s kind of walking backwards and then starts threatening me, saying, ‘You want to fight’ or something. And I wasn’t saying anything back to him. I just kept looking at him, making eye contact with him.”

You might also like:
• Woman re-arrested after second stranger attack in Vancouver
• Vancouver woman punched near SkyTrain station in another random attack

The man apparently walked off, but things escalated from there.

Moments later, Hoenisch says they were approached by a woman screaming.

“And I don’t really think much of it. Because around that part of town, you hear people screaming a lot. And she’s running in our direction, but I don’t think it has anything to do with us. So I’m not paying much attention. And then, suddenly, this woman leaps through the air. [She] flies through the air, like some Jackie Chan move or something, and then lands on me. And then we kind of collide into the building. And then she starts flailing her arms and smashing me in the head. I’m just so confused, because it was just so shocking, right? When you’re not prepared for these things.”

His colleague told him to go inside the building where they were working and he thought that would be the end of it, but a few minutes later he saw police sirens and ended up speaking with police.

Hoenisch says officers asked if he wanted to press charges, and at first he wasn’t sure. But then he was told the suspect was apparently involved in another attack just a few days earlier.

“They mentioned that she was involved in another assault, and they’re like, ‘Have you not been reading the news?'”

“So I thought about it … she could have had a weapon or something, she could have really done some damage,” says Hoenisch.

“And so I decided to press charges to get someone who’s doing that off the street.”

On Monday, the VPD announced they arrested a woman for the second time in four days after a stranger attack in the city.

An assault charge has now been laid against 38-year-old Samantha Towedo in connection with that incident. Towedo was also charged after an incident in Marpole last week.

Does Hoenisch still feel safe in Vancouver?

With more and more stranger attacks in Vancouver, Daily Hive asked Hoenisch if he still feels safe in the city.

“I personally feel safe. Yes. But the interesting thing is, I never paid people much mind. I was never concerned before. Never thought I’d be attacked. I knew it happened, but I was like, ‘Oh, that’s never gonna happen to me.’ But now I feel [that] people could attack and you have to be prepared for that. Not that I’m necessarily scared, but just prepared for something like that to happen.”

Crime concerns growing in Vancouver

Over the past several months, concerns about crime have been growing around Vancouver. In response, Vancouver police have held a series of community engagement events to have conversations with those who have concerns.

Business owners have been among those speaking out about property crime and a Facebook group was even created by the daughter of a Vancouver business owner after the windows at his shop were smashed.

Marquis Wine Cellars in Vancouver (Submitted)

Some of the instances of property crime highlighted in the Facebook group include a popular Vancouver eatery with its door smashed, a baby clothing store with its door smashed and boarded up, small businesses that have had to board up their windows, and several stores being spray painted.

With files from Amir Ali