During a rise in attacks against Asian people, a male suspect in one such incident has been identified as a man who has since died.

Yesterday (May 12), Metro Vancouver Transit Police released images and video footage of a male suspect who was allegedly involved in an altercation on a bus in East Vancouver on April 15.

When he made racist comments to two female Asian passengers wearing masks, a third woman defended them. After an argument, the male suspect violently assaulted the woman—kicking her, repeatedly punching her in the head, ripping out her hair, and wrestling her to the floor—before fleeing.

After transit police asked for public assistance, the suspect was identified as a 48-year-old male of no fixed address who was known to police.

Investigators determined that he had died from a drug overdose about one week after the assault.

The Vancouver Police Department previously stated that the number of reported acts of vandalism and assaults against people of Asian descent has sharply increased this year, with 20 incidents.

Several antiracism awareness campaigns have been launched involving numerous Asian Canadian and American celebrities and concerned individuals, including the Vancouver Asian Film Festival’s Elimin8hate and Vancouver’s #HealthNotHate.

In the wake of Canadian rocker Bryan Adams posting a rant on social media in which he blamed the pandemic on "some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards”, North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma uploaded a video online to share her thoughts about how everyone has biases that they need to examine and how examples like Adams contribute to the problem.

https://twitter.com/BowinnMa/status/1260394308013678592