Tuesday November 15, 2022 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated November 19, 2022]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
A 17-year-old woman was shoved into her car at the Shoppers Drug Mart parking lot at Westshore Town Centre in Langford yesterday evening.
The incident — which happened between 5:00 and 5:30 pm on November 14 (by which time it would have been dark) — is thought by West Shore RCMP to be a targeted attack, and are considering it to be an attempted abduction.
As the woman was putting items into the back seat of her car, a man pushed her fully into the back seat of her vehicle.
Another male suspect then approach the vehicle and attempted to gain entry to the driver’s side door while the victim was inside the car, said RCMP today at a press session outside the Westshore RCMP detachment in Langford.
Quick response:
According to RCMP, the alleged victim ‘thought quickly’ and managed to lock the doors of her car with her key fob after she was pushed into her vehicle.
The teen was shaken but unharmed by remaining in her locked vehicle, said Cpl Saggar today in a media session at the Westshore RCMP detachment.
The young woman said she did not know the suspects.
It has not been confirmed yet whether the teen is a student in School District 62 (SD62).
No risk to the general public:
Cpl Nancy Saggar said police are not revealing at this time as to why they believe the incident was targeted, but says it is an “isolated incident”.
As such, the general public is not at risk, Cpl Saggar told media this afternoon.
Seeking witnesses:
RCMP is seeking witnesses as to the two men who attempted to kidnap the young woman yesterday.
According to the alleged victim, the two men are of dark complexion and have beards, and were wearing dark-coloured hoodies. Both are about 6 ft tall, one with a tattoo on one of his arms with an image of squirrels. They are thought to be in they late 20s or early 30s, said Cpl Saggar.
Both suspects were wearing dark coloured pants and dark coloured hoodies.
A young male bystander in the retail parking lot area apparently helped with the situation (by shouting at the males who then left on foot and headed around the side of Shoppers Drug Market toward Kelly Road).
Westshore RCMP are hoping that person and any other witnesses will come forward.
Increasing youth violence:
Today Cpl Saggar said she is concerned about what she described as an increase in youth violence in the Langford area.
In recent weeks there have been other — more violent — incidents in the area, including at the McDonalds at 854 Langford Parkway (after which a teen got on a bus out to Sooke and was later apprehended on the bus by Sooke RCMP) and at the local ESSO gasoline station on Jacklin Road. All those incidents are within or across from Westshore Town Centre in the older west side of Langford.
School District comments:
Last week School District 62 (SD62) Superintendent Scott Stinson said that in a general way, youth who are currently not attending SD62 schools — and who appear to be hanging out in gangs — are being contacted by school district outreach workers for casual contact and communication.
“Speaking in generalities of our district-wide approach, we will always wrap supports around students who have been through stressful or traumatic events,” said Stinson today in response to a query from Island Social Trends.
“In regards to violent or threatening behaviour, the Sooke School District follows the VTRA (Violent Threat Risk Assessment) process to keep our school communities safe,” said Stinson. “It is an integral part of the work that our Safe and Healthy Schools Department does, in collaboration with the erase initiative through the Ministry of Education.”
“A VTRA protocol was developed in partnership with several community agencies and uses a multi-disciplinary response to worrisome, violent or threatening behaviour,” said Stinson by email today. “Trained VTRA teams respond by investigating incidents, conducting risk assessments and providing recommendations to school and community partners.”
Link: Critical Incident Response in SD62
===== RELATED:
Critical incident response in SD62 schools (November 19, 2022)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news service with an online portal at islandsocialtrends.ca, reporting on news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island since mid-2020.
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke produces Island Social Trends, emergent from her three previous publications: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Mary P Brooke was a trustee candidate in the SD62 (west shore Belmont Zone) election in October 2022.