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Fourth stranger attack leads to charges in connection with three previous assaults

A 54-year-old woman was attacked inside her home.
Vancouver_Police_Office
A 21-year-old man has been charged in connection with four separate stranger attacks in Vancouver.

Charges have been laid in connection to a series of unprovoked attacks that occurred in Vancouver's Fairview neighbourhood last week.

On August 18, the VPD launched an investigation after three people were attacked in the space of a few hours by someone they didn't know.

The first assault happened near the False Creek seawall, just under the Cambie Street Bridge, shortly after 6:30 p.m. when a 70-year-old man was approached from behind, tackled to the ground, then punched and kicked several times by an unknown man. 

Nearly 45 minutes later, around 7:15 p.m., a 33-year-old woman was walking her dog when she was approached from behind by an unknown man and punched in the face. The assault happened in a lane near West 11th Avenue and Spruce Street.

The third attack happened just before 8:45 p.m. when a 23-year-old woman was stabbed by an unknown man while walking near West Broadway and Alder Street, suffering a serious but non-life threatening injury. The suspect was last seen heading south on Alder Street.

About 36 hours later, in the early hours of August 20, there was a fourth assault that led to the arrest of Martin Lamb, a 21-year-old Vancouver man.

A 54-year-old woman was attacked inside her Riley Park home following a home invasion. The woman suffered multiple serious and life-threatening injuries that required hospitalization.

“Though the attacker fled following the final assault, patrol officers located and arrested a suspect nearby,” says Sergeant Steve Addison in a news release. “VPD Major Crime investigators then gathered additional evidence linking the suspect to the three previous attacks.”

BC Prosecution Service has now approved charges against Lamb. He is charged with two counts of assault, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of break and enter.

With files from Maria Diment