Vancouver police investigating homicide after man dies following confrontation, rollover crash

VPD investigate Vancouver's 14th homicide of 2021 Vancouver's 14th homicide of the year appears to have happened under bizarre circumstances Saturday night.

Vancouver — Vancouver police are investigating the city’s 14th homicide of the year after a confrontation involving groups of people in two different vehicles in South Vancouver led to a rollover crash late Saturday night.

People living on East 55th Avenue, just off of Fraser Street, heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. and rushed outside to find a witness screaming and three people inside a Mazda minivan that had rolled onto its side.

“We realized something was happening outside,” said Kiran Vanpalli, one of several people who tried to help.

“And then we realized that the car had been rolled over."

According to witnesses, the three people in the rolled minivan were all young men, and one sitting the back did not appear to be breathing after the crash.

Police say all three went to hospital, where two were treated for serious injuries and one was pronounced dead.

“I think he had injuries to his ribs,” said Vanapalli. “That’s what I saw at the time.”

Police have revealed little about the nature of the confrontation and ensuing crash.

“The cause of death was not a result of the collision,” Sgt. Steve Addison said.

The Vancouver Police Department believes the conflict began a short distance from where the crash took place. Investigators are appealing for surveillance and dashcam video from businesses and people in the area bounded by Main and Fraser streets, between East 41st and East 57th avenues.

Sunday afternoon, police could be seen canvassing businesses along Fraser Street, with some detectives looking at a laptop displaying grainy video of people on the sidewalk in front of a business.

“I can’t talk about any evidence that we have gathered,” said Addison. “At this stage of the investigation, when everything is very fresh and we’re still trying to understand what happened, we need to make sure we do everything right.”

Back on East 55th, a tow truck operator flipped the minivan back onto its wheels, revealing blood smeared across the backseat and pooled in the street.

Medical supplies were also strewn about in the roadway where people from the neighbourhood gathered to see the unusual crime scene.

"We are literally shocked because it's a quiet area here and we never thought this kind of thing would happen,” said Vanapalli.

As of Sunday afternoon, police said they had not identified any suspects and they had not released any descriptions of the second vehicle believed to be involved in the altercation that ended in homicide.