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Man attacks people with stick in downtown Victoria

A cab was damaged by a man who attacked several people with a wooden stick in downtown Victoria Photograph By TIMES COLONIST A man wielding a wooden stick hit at least two males in different areas of downtown Victoria Wednesday night in a random spre

 A cab was damaged by a man who attacked several people with a wooden stick in downtown Victoria Photograph By TIMES COLONISTA cab was damaged by a man who attacked several people with a wooden stick in downtown Victoria Photograph By TIMES COLONIST

A man wielding a wooden stick hit at least two males in different areas of downtown Victoria Wednesday night in a random spree.

Victoria police say a man is in custody as police investigate “multiple assaults in downtown Victoria last night.”

Scott McClelland, 45, was in his Chinatown Fisgard Street condo with the patio door open when he heard a loud pop — that he thought was possibly a gunshot — followed by screaming. He ran down four floors to street level to be told the sound was the crack of a bat on a man’s forehead.

The attack happened between 9:30 and 10 p.m., he said.

McClelland said the victim, in his 50s, was sitting on the curb between parked cars and had a large gash on his forehead. The victim was containing the blood flow with a towel other witnesses had given him.

The victim was out walking his two dogs — as he often does, according to McClelland’s wife — when he was attacked, said McClelland.

The Fisgard Street resident was with the victim when police arrived. McClelland said he overheard police say the suspect was on a spree, hitting vehicles and people through town, and had been arrested.

“I overheard a police officer say a guy was in the area randomly hitting people with a bat and that there was more than one incident,” McClelland said.

Another witness was at Garrick’s Head Pub, 140 Government St., when she followed her girlfriend, who ran out of the bar after reacting to what she saw out the window.

“She saw a guy with what she said was a field hockey stick smash the driver-side window of a cab — another witness said the cabbie was inside and uninjured — and he kept running and then hit a guy in the face with the stick,” the witness said, now following her friend.

“His eyebrow was gushing blood,” she said of the victim, a large, well-dressed man she estimated to be in his 30s. That victim sat on the stairs of the Irish Times pub as people gave him aid.

“He was in shock,” she said. Meanwhile, her visiting friend continued to pursue the suspect while on her phone to emergency dispatchers via 911. Talking to more witnesses, the women were told that an earlier attack had occurred in Chinatown.

Police tape was put up around the crime scenes while police conducted a forensic investigation.

The suspect was arrested closer to the Inner Harbour, the witness said.

“Our investigation is ongoing,” said police. “More information is expected later today.”

ceharnett@timescolonist.com

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