A Vancouver woman is in critical condition after a man stabbed her and several other tenants of an apartment building in what appears to be a random attack, police say.

The suspect tore through the highrise in the city’s west end Thursday evening, slashing people in the hallways. He was also wielding a hammer.

Police said the man did not live in the building and they don’t believe he had any connection to the residents who were attacked.

But some tenants said they had seen the man before as he visited a friend in the building.

Howard Carley told CTV British Columbia he tackled the suspect and held him down until police arrived.

Carley said he heard banging and hammering outside his apartment around 6:30 p.m. Thursday and went to investigate.

“I looked down in the lobby and I could see a body lying there completely still with some blood around it,” he said.

“Just then the stairwell door opened up and the guy is standing there and he’s got the hammer in his right hand.”

Carley said the suspect was rambling in French and “sometimes in English.”

“Part of it was he telling me he was going to kill me,” he said.

Carley said he decided to tackle the man and they fought all the way back to his living room.

“It happened so fast, but clearly I was thinking I’m kind of struggling for my life here.”

Carley said he managed to pin the suspect to the ground just before police officers barged in. He suffered injuries to his arm and leg in the process.

An officer was also injured during the arrest and treated on the scene.

Of the six people who were taken to hospital, two were released by Friday morning. One bystander was treated on scene.

The 33-year-old suspect has not yet been formally charged.

With a report from CTV British Columbia and files from The Canadian Press