Suspect pleads not guilty to murder in Vancouver Starbucks stabbing trial

The murder trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing a stranger outside a downtown Vancouver Starbucks is underway.

A 25-second confrontation on the patio of a Vancouver café left a man pushing a stroller lying in a pool of blood after he was stabbed six times in the chest, a British Columbia court has heard.

The bloody video of the fatal stabbing on March 26, 2023, was played in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday on the first day of Inderdeep Singh Gosal’s murder trial.

Crown prosecutor Karin Blok said the “primary issue” for the court to consider was intent and whether it could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Gosal intended to cause Paul Schmidt bodily harm that he knew was likely to cause death.

Gosal pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Schmidt before Blok showed videos of Gosal’s movements on the day of the confrontation.

He is seen wearing a grey hoodie and red pants as he travels by train to downtown Vancouver around 5 p.m. that day. About 35 minutes later he enters the patio of the coffee shop before taking a seat by the main entrance.

“Less than a minute later, Mr. Schmidt walked out of the Starbucks, pushing his stroller, and walked to the sidewalk adjacent to the patio,” Blok said.

Gosal could be seen on the video smoking just outside the shop’s doors. The two men then appear to have a verbal confrontation.

“Precisely what was said is not known,” Blok told the court.

The confrontation escalates and Schmidt walks back onto the patio before the 25-second physical struggle ensues. Blood is smeared across the patio and a pool of blood forms under Schmidt after he is stabbed, stumbles and falls face down.

Gosal watched the video of the altercation from the prisoner’s box with his head resting on his hand as it covered his mouth.

The video shows the accused entering the café after Schmidt falls, before re-emerging when police turn up. He was instructed to lay on the ground, where he was handcuffed. Another video depicts him being led to a police van in front of a sea of onlookers.

Witness Michael Allan testified later Tuesday that he had been inside the coffee shop and had seen the two men “grappling” outside. He said he initially believed it was “just a fight” and watched as Gosal was pushed up against the doors before Schmidt stumbled backward.

Allan said he heard Gosal yell an expletive in the direction of Schmidt before he entered the shop and began pacing back and forth.

“While he was pacing, I would look at my laptop and back at him, avoiding eye contact,” Allan said.

“At a certain point, he put his phone up to his face and began talking to it, but like he was making a call,” Allan said, noting he was unable to hear what was said.

“At a certain point, the police showed up and arrested (Gosal) at gunpoint.”

Allan said it was at that point that someone tapped him on the shoulder and instructed him to leave the shop from a separate entrance. He said as he was exiting, he saw Gosal on the ground being arrested and “saw for the first time” Schmidt lying on the ground.

“There was quite a lot of blood on the ground and the police were — I couldn’t tell exactly what they were doing, I looked away quite quickly, but they were moving his body around,” Allan said.

Earlier Tuesday, Blok told the court that the officer who searched Gosal at the scene found “a silver, folding knife in the closed position” in his left pants pocket.

“The knife was later analyzed using appropriate procedures and found to have the deceased’s blood on it,” she said.

The autopsy on Schmidt’s body was performed three days later, Blok said.

The trial by judge alone is expected to last about five weeks.

The defence has not yet made its opening statement.

This report by Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press, was first published Feb. 10, 2026.