Weapons and violence cap off "volatile weekend" in Downtown Eastside

The Downtown Eastside homeless encampment on East Hastings Street, near Main Street, as of July 21, 2022. (submitted)

Vancouver police are detailing a violent and “volatile weekend” in the Downtown Eastside over the past few days.

A shooting in broad daylight wasn’t the only violent incident in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, with Vancouver police now sharing the details of several incidents between Saturday and Tuesday.

A shooting sent one person to the hospital on Sunday, but the violence began a day before.

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Saturday

Officers were patrolling an area near Columbia and East Hastings streets when they noticed a man committing a bylaw offence. VPD didn’t share what that offence was but did say that the man tried to run away before being arrested following a foot chase.

Once he was stopped, officers discovered a loaded Glock handgun and illicit drugs, which they believed the man had in his possession for trafficking.

Sunday

Officers patrolled West Hastings Street around 2:30 am on Sunday when three men in balaclavas were jay-walking near Gastown. When officers stopped them to write a ticket, they discovered that one of the men had a loaded handgun. Two others had knives and bear spray. Kaugen Bull, a 22-year-old, was charged with possessing a prohibited or restricted firearm and a gun with an altered serial number.

Also, on Sunday, a woman in her 30s was bear sprayed outside the Carnegie Centre on the corner of Main and Hastings streets. A suspect was tracked down to a nearby tent by the Patricia Hotel. They arrested two men and recovered a sawed-off shotgun.

The arrested men included a man in his 20s from Winnipeg and a man in his 40s from Alberta.

Tuesday

While officers patrolled near East Hastings Street, a man was discovered riding his bike recklessly through traffic and on the sidewalk. Police found the cyclist had bail conditions that forbid him from being in the area and then proceeded to discover a cache of weapons, including a gun, a machete, bear spray, a baton, and ammo.