Murder charge laid after fatal stabbing at CRAB Park in Downtown Eastside

A 27-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after a stabbing near East Hastings and Columbia streets killed 49-year-old James Andrew Slater.

Murder charge in CRAB Park stabbing death, Vancouver's sixth homicide of 2026

A 27-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder following a fatal stabbing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, vancouver.citynews.ca reports.

Officers from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) were called to the area of East Hastings and Columbia streets shortly after 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, after reports of a man in medical distress near CRAB Park. First responders found the victim, 49-year-old James Andrew Slater, suffering from stab wounds. He was taken to hospital, where he later died.

A man and a woman were initially arrested. The BC Prosecution Service has since charged the man with one count of second-degree murder. The woman was subsequently released and is no longer considered a suspect.

The killing marks the sixth homicide recorded in Vancouver so far this year. Earlier incidents include a 48-year-old man who died from stabbing injuries in East Vancouver on January 20, the death of a 21-year-old man in the Downtown Eastside on March 20 — initially investigated as a suspicious death before being reclassified as a homicide — and a 36-year-old man who died following a stabbing in the Downtown Eastside on April 24.

Anyone with information about Wednesday's stabbing is asked to contact the VPD's Major Crime Section at 604-717-2500.

Source: Global News Crime