Man dies after second 'terrifying' stabbing in White Rock, police hunt ...

A fatal stabbing near the White Rock pier on Tuesday night — two days after a similar knife attack on a man sitting on a bench with his wife — have police hunting for a killer and a possible connection between the attacks.

Police are asking anyone with video or pictures of the White Rock waterfront Tuesday evening around 9:30 p.m. to get in touch with them. They described the suspect as a dark-skinned man, about 5-foot-11, wearing a hat and grey hoodie who was last seen fleeing north from the bloody scene near the promenade.

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White Rock RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Rob Dixon said police were on scene within minutes of a call about a man who had been stabbed in an area east of the pier.

The man died despite efforts to save him, while police with dogs were unable to find a suspect.

One man is dead and homicide detectives have been called in following another stabbing in White Rock near the pier Tuesday night. Photo by Nick Procaylo /PNG

On Wednesday, Omni News identified the murdered man as Kulwinder Sohi, a plumber who came to Canada in 2018.

A friend told an Omni reporter that Sohi was sitting near the beach when someone attacked him. Sohi tried to defend himself, then ran into a parking lot near the promenade and collapsed. His attacker disappeared into the bushes.

At a news conference, Dixon called the murder “shocking and tragic,” but stopped short of warning people to stay away from the White Rock waterfront.

“It’s an abnormality to what we normally see here,” he said, adding he would allow his family, including his mother, to “walk as per normal in the area.”

But a friend of a man who was stabbed by a stranger two nights earlier believes police should have done more to warn the public that the attacker was still at large.

“If police had said stay away, I think the victim would still be alive,” said Bikram Sandhu.

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On Sunday night, also around nightfall, a young married couple ran from a man in a hat and hoodie after the husband was stabbed in the back of the neck as they sat on a bench looking out at the ocean.

Jatinder Singh, 28, is still recovering from the cut on the back of his neck. He showed Postmedia the jagged and bloody wound on Wednesday.

Singh, who had just found work at a mill in Surrey, and his wife, Manpreet Kaur, have only been in Canada for two months after moving from India, said Sandhu. The visit to White Rock on Sunday night was their first outing.

Jatinder Singh in Surrey, BC, April 24, 2024. Jatinder Singh, 28, was stabbed in the neck by an unknown assailant while at White Rock pier with his wife, Manpreet. (Arlen Redekop / Postmedia staff photo) Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

The couple was drinking coffee on the bench just after sunset when someone came up behind them and attacked.

“At first, Jatinder thought they had punched him. He got up and there was blood all over.”

A man with a knife was standing behind the bench, staring at the couple, said Sandhu. “They screamed and shouted and ran for their lives.”

Sandhu has started a GoFundMe page to help pay the couple’s medical bills. He is also hoping the provincial government will forgive the cost of Singh’s treatment at Royal Columbian Hospital as he is now unable to work.

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“They have no money, no job, and on top of that, they are worried that they are in danger,” he said.

The homicide team is investigating Tuesday’s murder, as well as any possible links to the Sunday stabbing.

Homicide team spokesman Sgt. Timothy Pierotti said the murder doesn’t appear to be targeted, “where somebody came into this looking for a certain individual.” Later asked if the public could be in danger from someone who is attacking strangers, Pierotti said police don’t believe “we’re in a situation where people have to dramatically alter their lives.”

“We would never hold information back that would jeopardize the safety of the public,” he added.

Dixon said White Rock RCMP increased the frequency of their routine patrols after Sunday’s stabbing. After Tuesday’s murder, they will deploy more officers to the waterfront.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) conduct a search in a parking lot in the 15400 block of Marine Dr. following a stabbing which left a man dead on the scene, in White Rock, B.C., on April 24, 2024. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /10104564A

White Rock Mayor Megan Knight called the attacks “terrifying.”

“I’ve lived here for 45 years, so I was completely shocked when it first happened on Sunday night and then again last night,” she said, vowing to lend city support to police.

White Rock city council has been discussing a plan to install CCTV cameras on the waterfront.

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“I think it really boils down to what are they going to do for us?” said the mayor. “If they’re going to take a picture in the dark and you’re not going to see the person anyways, I don’t know how well that’s going to work. So that’s why I’m really looking forward to what staff are going to bring forward.”

Coun. Christopher Trevelyan said he first put forward the motion two years ago after a group of more than 500 youth congregated on the waterfront in the early hours of the morning.

“When we asked the RCMP what we as a city could to do help, CCTV cameras were one of the suggestions,” he said.

White Rock RCMP in a parking lot in the 15400 block of Marine Dr. following a stabbing which left a man dead on the scene, in White Rock, B.C., on April 24, 2024. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /10104564A

Last summer, several of the sculptures installed on the waterfront were vandalized.

Earlier this month, council adopted a bylaw amendment to close waterfront parks between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., making after-hours loitering in those parks a finable offence.

Adam Irvine, who works at a popular waterfront restaurant, said the city has a problem with youths coming down to the waterfront late at night.

“The stabbing has nothing to do with that, but I think CCTV would help in both cases,” he said in a phone interview during a break from work, seagulls audible in the background. “They should have done it a long time ago.”

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Irvine said he was picking up his teenage son from work on Sunday night around 10 p.m. and saw the police.

“It’s scary. Do I want my kid out there alone at night? No. But I also don’t want to live in fear. What do you do? How do you feel safe now?”

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