Police have arrested a suspect in a knife attack in a north Calgary doctor’s office that left one dead and another wounded Thursday afternoon.
“At this point, investigators believe the incident to be domestic in nature,” said Duty Insp. Dean LaGrange.
Police officers, paramedics and firefighters were called to a medical centre at 1623 Centre St. N for reports of a stabbing at about 2:35 p.m. Thursday. They found one man already dead and a woman suffering “superficial” wounds.
The suspect, the victim and the injured woman all knew each other, LaGrange said, declining to elaborate on the relationships between the trio. All three were said to be in their 40s to 50s.
Gavin Young / PostmediaA police officer washes the blood from his hands.
The woman, believed to be in her mid-50s, was taken to Sheldon Chumir with a minor soft-tissue injury, said EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux.
The suspect was also treated at the scene for non-life threatening wounds sustained in the struggle. Though LaGrange said the man killed was the intended target of the attack, he said he wasn’t sure what led to the incident.
“I can’t speculate on what the thought process of the suspect was going into this,” said LaGrange.
“You can draw your own conclusions, it being domestic in nature.”
When police arrived at the Central Landmark building, where the incident happened, they found the suspect still inside the Perpetual Wellness Chinese Medical Centre on the second floor, LaGrange said.
Gavin Young / PostmediaPolice on scene
The man, who was wearing a bloodstained green t-shirt and had blood covering the soles of his shoes, had his head bowed as officers escorted him away in handcuffs. LaGrange said he didn’t know why the man didn’t try to flee.
“Whether he decided he was just going to live with what he had done and wait for police, I can’t comment on that right now,” LaGrange said.
“He was calm and cooperative with us, didn’t put up a struggle and was taken into custody without incident.”
Witnesses at the Central Landmark building, where the attack happened, described a chaotic scene.
Emma Wong, 54, owns Essential Eyewear on the first floor of the building. She said she heard a commotion upstairs.
“All of a sudden we heard a lot of shouting,” she said. “It got worse, considerably louder, so I went out to look.”
Then, Wong said she saw people rushing downstairs and a police officer with a gun drawn running up.
The owners of a bakery and a dim sum restaurant at the bottom of the stairs immediately threw down their security gates, Wong said, afraid they were in danger.
A woman, she was bleeding … I can’t remember which hand..she was cut
“It’s so scary when something like this happens,” Wong said. “We hear people arguing here a lot so we didn’t think anything of it at first.”
One female witness said she saw a woman with cuts to her wrist. The witness didn’t speak English and was translated by a bystander, neither of which wanted to give their names.
Nancy Zhu, who works as a nurse at Olive Medical, across from Perpetual Wellness, said she helped apply first aid to an injured woman who came running in.
“A woman, she was bleeding … I can’t remember which hand..she was cut,” Zhu said.
Maggie Law, who owns the Misanto Spa a few doors down from the clinic, said she heard screaming.
Though she didn’t see what happened, Law said she saw someone from the medical centre run into the Central Grand restaurant next door.
“They were yelling, ‘Bring some more towels, more towels, blood,” Law said. “It was scary.”
Police officers were seen guarding the outside and going into the Perpetual Wellness Chinese Medicine Centre for hours after the incident.
Very, very heavy police/EMS presence here on Centre Street North outside 100 Tops Supermarket. #yyccrime pic.twitter.com/u49yLJJp4w
— Emma McIntosh (@EmmaMci) June 16, 2016
.@CalgaryPolice confirmed 1 person dead and multiple people stabbed upstairs here @ Central Landmark Mall. #yyccrime pic.twitter.com/wXkW879XGe
— Emma McIntosh (@EmmaMci) June 16, 2016
LaGrange said the victim ran the clinic. The office window there bears the name Dr. Tiejun Huang, followed by credentials Ph.D./MD R.Ac RMT DTCM.
It also states on the window the doctor was a sports medicine specialist at the Beijing Olympic Games, a professor in sports medicine and rehabilitation and performs acupuncture and Chinese “Tuina” massage.
A pair of slippers were left on the floor in front of the clinic, and the area remained blocked off with yellow police tape Thursday evening.
Police were still interviewing six witnesses, LaGrange said. Meanwhile, the suspect’s van remained taped off at the strip mall.
An autopsy for the victim was scheduled for Friday.
With files from Ryan Rumbolt, Gavin Young and Clara Ho.
CPS on scene at fatal stabbing at NE strip mall pic.twitter.com/yn7MrZs6Vl
— Ryan C. Rumbolt (@RCRumbolt) June 16, 2016
Police have now opened up the upper floor and are containing a business on the top floor pic.twitter.com/QAXPGOknKm
— Jim Wells (@JimWellsphoto) June 16, 2016
Police have allowed us upstairs now. Entrance to the Grand Central restaurant also blocked off. #yyccrime pic.twitter.com/pNRbxWmFv6
— Emma McIntosh (@EmmaMci) June 16, 2016