A statement from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says it happened at about 1:30 a.m. PT Monday. The statement says the woman, who’s in her 50s, was sitting on a sidewalk in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood when a man in his 30s approached, poured the liquid on her head and lit it. Const. Tania Visintin says the woman ran to a nearby business to get help. Police are also investigating a second incident at about the same time as the woman was attacked, in which a sleeping structure was set ablaze. Tents line the sidewalk in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on June 22. (Justine Boulin/CBC) Police say a man told them he was sleeping in an alley not far from the first incident when someone set his shelter on fire, but he was able to put out the flames himself and was not hurt. Visintin says both cases are being investigated as arson, but police don’t believe there’s a link. “However, it is still very early in the investigation, so we are not ruling anything out,” Visintin said in the release. The attack on the woman was shocking, says Visintin, because it targeted a “vulnerable member” of the community. Anyone with information about either incident is asked to call the VPD’s Major Crime Unit at 604-717-2541.
