North Vancouver RCMP are looking for a suspect who pepper sprayed a Lynn Valley man while fleeing from a break-and-enter.
According to police, the 24-year-old victim had just arrived from work around 3 p.m. Thursday when he caught a burglar in the act of climbing out of the bedroom window of his home on the 1200 block of Wellington Drive.
“Unfortunately, he was pepper sprayed by the bad guy,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “If you’ve ever been pepper sprayed, after that you don’t see much, hear much or do much other than try to get water into your eyes. All he did see was the guy running away on foot out of the yard.”
What the victim could glean, however, was that the attacker was a white male, approximately five-foot-10 with dark hair and dark stubble. Most notably, he had a black eye and was wearing a red high-visibility vest and a hard hat.
Investigators say the thief made off with a “significant amount” of British pounds.
Police fanned out around the neighbourhood but there was no sign of the suspect. Investigators will be canvassing construction sites in the area in hopes of finding new leads, De Jong said. They’ll also be hunting for any local surveillance footage and speaking with local currency exchanges. Police don’t know how long the man had been in the house or whether he’d been casing the neighbourhood and attempting other break-ins.
A composite drawing of the suspect will likely be released in the coming days.
Police advise to never confront a suspect, De Jong added.
“We always say call 911 immediately. We never encourage people to approach a suspect. You don’t know how they’re armed or what their emotional state is. You risk danger to yourself. Any property or money is not of more value than your own life,” he said.
Anyone with information about the break-in, the assault or the suspect is asked to call North Vancouver RMCP at 604-985-1311.
