Vancouver police arrest 29-year-old man for assault on visually impaired senior in city's West End

Vancouver police have arrested a 29-year-old suspect in a daytime attackon a visually impaired senior in the city's West End neighbourhood last month.

Aspokesperson for the police said the man has been arrested but not yet charged in an investigation into the March 31 assault.

"We can't name the suspect because he hasn't yet been formally charged," said Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison in an email Saturday.

The69-year-old victim was punched in the stomach without provocation on a crosswalk at Thurlow and Alberni streets, police said earlier this month.

Addison said the investigation is continuing, and the suspect has been released from custody. A court date for his hearing has not yet been given.

The victim was walking with a cane and wearing a bright yellow, high-visibility jacket at the time of the attack, but was not left with injuries, police said at the time.

The report of the attack comes after city officials said that safety concerns over the number of recent unprovoked stranger assaults have poured into city hall along with calls to provide more housing and mental health supports for vulnerable residents.

On Friday, VPD's deputy chiefHoward Chow wrote on Twitter that the suspect was a 29-year-old man "with a history of violent crimes and mental illness," but said the force has recently made "gains" in investigating a string of stranger assaults.

"We continue to hear from people who feel less safe," Chow tweetedFriday afternoon. "We take your concerns seriously, and there's still work to do.

"The common thread in these cases is that citizens took action to help solve these crimes ... Please call police if you are a victim, or have information about a crime."

Police have said there are more than four unprovoked stranger attacks in the city a day, according to a review of reported assaults between Sept. 1, 2020 and Aug. 31, 2021.

"This can be very distressing for the community when incidents like this continue to happen," said VPD Const.Tania Visintinin an April 8 statement.

However, there is no data available from previous years to confirm there was an increase.

Police had appealed on April 8 forany witnessesto the assault to come forward as part of their investigation.