Couple charged in man’s death

Fatal incident followed altercation

A 40-year-old man and 35-year-old woman have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the July 12 homicide at a Burnaby Starbucks.

Michael Page-Vincelli, 22, died following an altercation inside the coffee shop. Witnesses say he was left unconscious and bleeding on the floor.

Manslaughter charges were secured against Lawrence Alvin Sharpe and 35-year-old Oldouz Pournouruz on Saturday.

The pair was arrested in Burnaby without incident and were scheduled to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court on Monday.

That altercation was reportedly sparked by an argument over a discarded cigarette.

“While this investigation is now before the courts, I can confirm that it was not a random act,” Cpl. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said in a press release on Monday.

Burnaby RCMP responded to an alleged assault on the afternoon of July 12.

Page-Vincelli was transported to hospital where he later died of his injuries, Jang said in the release.

The news release is the first police have issued about the death of PageVincelli, who was first identified in media reports in August. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association raised questions at the time over why police didn’t issue a news release about his death.

In an interview in August, Michael Zimeras said on the day of the alleged assault he was sitting outside and saw a young man emerge from the coffee shop.

The man lit a cigarette and paced back and forth, yanking his T-shirt up and down, mumbling and cursing about the government and not being allowed to smoke inside, he said.

Zimeras said he saw the same young man in a confrontation with a woman sitting in a parked car. She tossed a cigarette onto the ground and he picked it up and threw it into her open window, he said.

Zimeras said he saw the woman tell another man about the encounter and watched him enter the Starbucks while the woman held the door.

After about a minute, Zimeras said the man emerged and they drove away. Zimeras said he went into the coffee shop and saw the young man who had been pacing outside bleeding from the mouth, nose and ears.

Another witness said he heard a loud bang when he was sitting in the Starbucks.

Steve Myers said he saw a man laying on the floor. An employee called 911 while people tried to do CPR, he said. Myers said other customers told him that a man had walked in, allegedly punched the young man from behind and he hit his head on a counter.