A young woman who witnessed Friday night’s violent attack along Victoria’s Dallas Road says the violence erupted “out of nowhere,” leaving two of her friends seriously injured.
On Sunday, the witness, whose identity is being protected by CHEK News, described what began as a peaceful evening with friends near Beacon Hill Park before a confrontation with another group escalated into an assault with weapons she described as a knife and a machete.
“It was scary,” she said. “There was a lot of blood, and it was concerning because it was dark. We really couldn’t see…all the damage that had been done. So I’m just thankful it didn’t turn out that anybody died that night.”
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Victoria police say officers responded shortly after 10 p.m. Friday to reports of a fight involving multiple people near Beacon Hill Park.
Three people were injured, with two taken to hospital. Police say both have since been released with non-life-threatening injuries. Two suspects, including one youth, were arrested at the scene and remain in custody as VicPD’s major crime unit investigates the attack.
The witness said she and her friends had been spending the night listening to music when they noticed another group lingering nearby.
She said several members of her group tried to be friendly and invite the others over, but the interaction quickly became unsettling.
According to the witness, she and three friends had stepped way from the larger group when one of the men approached them.
“I noticed the one of the males, he flipped the knife to his side when he was asking if we want to come with [them],” she recalled. “I grabbed my friends, and I’m like, let’s go back to the group, because something weird is happening.”
After returning to their friends and confronting the group about the knife, she said the situation rapidly escalated.
“From there, they started getting very violent towards us. They had started trying to throw punches at us. I got spat on by one of them,” she said.
The witness said the same man who had earlier displayed the knife later pulled out what appeared to be a machete during the fight.
“He reaches into his back, and he grabs a machete out, he pulls it out, and all of a sudden we’re like, oh God, this is getting serious,” she said. “He just started swinging.”
She estimated there were between 10 to 15 people with the suspect, but said nearly everyone fled once the machete appeared.
“Only one guy stayed by his side. The rest were like, ‘That’s not cool, we’re getting out of here, we don’t want anything to do with that,’” she said.
Two of her friends suffered serious slash wounds, she said, with one expected to undergo surgery.
“They’re stable,” she said. “One of them is going to have to be going into surgery…they’re doing a lot better now.”
The witness said members of her group chased the suspect toward Mile Zero, where one of her friends tackled him before police arrived.
“We were like, ‘There’s no way you’re getting away, like we’re gonna follow you wherever you go, because of what you just did, like there’s no way you’re doing this to anyone else,’” she said. “We chased them back to the Mile Zero Terry Fox run, one of my friends had tackled the machete man to the ground, and that’s when the cops showed up.”
The witness also released a video of what appears to be the aftermath of the attack, showing two males running from other people while shouting is exchanged.
She said she decided to speak publicly because some of those injured are still recovering and because misinformation about the attack has spread online.
“I want people to be aware of what happened. I’ve seen many stories on social media platforms saying people had died, all these things happened that weren’t true,” she said. “I would like everyone to know that they are safe and they’re in a safe place now. Nobody had passed away, but this is what happened, and it was very much so out of nowhere.”
Victoria police have released few details beyond confirming the arrests and injuries.
Investigators are asking anyone with information who has not yet spoken with police to contact the E-Comm non-emergency line at 250-995-7654 extension 1, referencing file number 26-27379.