Teen recounts horrifying moments being attacked with butt of gun

Arrest made as mall attack victim speaks out Langley RCMP has made an arrest in connection to a disturbing attack at Willowbrook mall on Tuesday afternoon.

Vancouver — As soon as a 15-year-old Langley boy saw another teen point him out, he knew he was in danger.

“He saw me, he pulled the gun out,” said the victim of a violent attack that happened Tuesday at Willowbrook Shopping Centre. CTV News Vancouver has chosen not to name the boy out of concern for his safety and that of the friends he was with that afternoon.

Video of the incident shows the male suspect walking near the H&M store inside Willowbrook Mall wearing a large coat and jeans. He then pulls out what looks like a long gun and begins running toward the victim, pointing the weapon at him and then hitting him with it, before running away.

“My friends ran but I was in shock because he was aiming it right at my head,” the victim told CTV News. “Then I just dropped unconscious for like a millisecond, and I was like, 'Oh no, what happened?' And I looked at my head and it was just bleeding.”

In a release on Thursday, Langley RCMP said they continued their investigation into the incident overnight and into Thursday morning, eventually arresting a male youth. The investigation is ongoing and police said they expect to present charges to Surrey Crown Counsel.

On Wednesday, police told CTV News Vancouver they believed the weapon involved was real. A subsequent statement from Langley RCMP was less conclusive, saying the victim was "struck in the head with what appeared to be the butt of a firearm."

“It hurt so bad that my whole body went into shock, I didn’t know what was going on, I couldn’t feel anything,” the teenaged victim added.

“I’ve come to the realization that my son could have lost his life that day," said his mother.

A nurse who happened to be at the mall at the time of the attack helped to treat him, and he was not taken to hospital.

Police said they were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, adding that they believe the incident was the result of a dispute between two groups of young people who knew each other.

"The kids were horrified," said a parent whose identity CTV News has also chosen not to reveal because of safety concerns. "They thought he’d been shot. The noise was actually him being hit in the head with the gun, and then falling to the ground and hitting his head on the ground.”

The parent described a squabble between two groups of teens that the victim and his friends were shocked turned violent.

“They were yelling threats at them, that, 'We’re going to get our friends to take care of you, we’re making a call,'” she recounted.

Then, as the victim and his friends were about to leave the mall, the gunman appeared.