Targeted stabbing at vape shop
The couple had just walked into The Vapour Trail on Cole Harbour Road.
Daviyaun Talbot and Alexandra Blakney-kennedy were speaking with an employee at the counter just before 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 when a man walked in behind them, browsed casually for a few minutes, then strolled back outside.
“Within 30 seconds, the same male walked back inside and stopped directly behind Talbot and either poked him or said something along the lines of, ‘Hey, turn around for me,’” Blakney-kennedy told police.
“A fight started between Talbot and the male, which led to the male stabbing Talbot.”
Talbot – who police charged for a brutal sledgehammer attack last fall in Dartmouth – was fighting back, making it difficult for his attacker to keep stabbing him.
“So, the male began making slashing motions instead,” Blakney-kennedy told police.
LOOKED LIKE PLAYFIGHTING AT FIRST
The entire stabbing incident lasted about 15 seconds, she said.
“She noticed a large gash on one of Talbot’s hands and one on his chest as she rendered first aid,” RCMP Const. Luke Murphy said in his application for a search warrant in the case.
“She noticed blood everywhere and that it seemed to be spurting.”
Sugee Mackay was working behind the counter that day.
“She saw the male and Talbot start fighting, but she believed it was playfighting at first,” Murphy said.
‘HE WAS DYING’
“When she saw blood and saw Talbot was hurt, she knew it was real; she heard Talbot say that he was dying.”
Blakney-kennedy told police Talbot’s attacker appeared to be of mixed race, had dark, short hair and was around six feet tall. He was wearing dark joggers or sweatpants and a hoodie that was either light blue or light grey.
“She said the object used to stab Talbot looked more like a ‘shank’ than a knife,” Murphy said.
“It was red, long, about six to eight inches. She did not see a blade, but it did not look like it folded and the male left with it.”
Mackay dialed 911 for help. “The male was already gone by the time she finished calling police,” Murphy said. “She had only been working there for about two months and didn’t recognize the male as a regular.”
SURVEILLANCE VIDEO
Less than an hour after the attack, police were going over surveillance video from The Vapour Trail.
“A dark-skinned male wearing a greenish/black hat, a grey hoodie and grey joggers and a black cross-body bag entered the store,” Murphy said.
He walked behind Talbot and Blakney-kennedy, looked at a glass display and then left the store, said the investigator.
“A white female with dark hair in a ponytail and a dark winter jacket entered the store briefly, looks inside, and runs back outside,” Murphy said.
That’s when the attack began.
“The male stabbed and slashed Talbot multiple times with his right hand and then left the store,” Murphy said.
“Talbot falls into a glass display case at the end of the store.”
‘STAINED WITH BLOOD’
The knife was difficult to see in the surveillance video.
“I could not discern the colour of the object, although it did appear at times to be red, possibly due to being stained with blood,” Murphy said.
“I also observed that Talbot lost a significant amount of blood as the video captured RCMP members rendering first aid and various pools and trails of blood on various floors and surfaces.”
Paramedics took Talbot to the QEII Life Sciences Centre in Halifax by ambulance.
“Talbot’s injuries were described as life-threatening on his arrival to hospital,” Murphy said.
AUDI SPOTTED
Exterior surveillance video from a nearby store in the same strip mall captured the stabber and his accomplice arrive and depart the parking lot again in an Audi Q3, Murphy said.
“The (Nova Scotia) licence plate on the rear of the black Audi Q3 was clearly legible in the video,” said the constable.
The exterior video shows them arriving at the strip mall, with him driving and her in the front passenger seat.
After she left the store, she ran back to the Audi and got in, Murphy said.
“The male suspect then emerged from the store and into the parking lot with a knife in his right hand and blood on the right sleeve of his grey sweater. The male then got into the driver’s seat of the vehicle, backed out of his parking spot and proceeded right onto Cole Harbour Road, driving over the sidewalk and curb as the vehicle left the parking lot.”
A police database told Mounties the Nova Scotia plate for the 2015 Audi sport utility vehicle belonged to Vincent Mason Lewis, 26, of Parkland Drive in Halifax.
SUV LOCATED
By 8:26 p.m., investigators had located the Audi parked in the underground garage of the apartment building where Lewis lived.
Police left officers watching the Audi while Murphy applied for a search warrant for the vehicle and Lewis’ third-floor apartment.
“The decision had been made not to attempt a door knock at Lewis’ apartment until such a time as a search warrant was granted so as not to alert any occupants and jeopardize any loss of potential evidence,” said the investigator.
He wanted to search the Audi, the parking garage and Lewis’ apartment for items including a knife, blue sneakers with white soles, grey sweatpants, a grey hoodie, a dark grey beanie-style toque, a black cross-body bag and evidence including blood, fingerprints and DNA samples.
KNIFE IN BEDSIDE TABLE
In one bedroom, Mounties found a Hoffman Richter Talon knife in a sheath in the bedside table with a prescription for Lewis, two pairs of grey sweatpants on the floor and another pair hanging in the closet.
Police seized a Defender Xtreme hunting knife in a camouflage sheath in an orange tool bag from the apartment’s hall closet.
They found a black shoulder bag on the den floor.
Investigators seized a pair of blue New Balance shoes with white soles from the living room, where they also found a yellow boxcutter knife on a side table.
They also searched the Audi, where officers found a receipt from Most Wanted Pawn. Investigators took 11 swabs of the vehicle’s interior for DNA analysis, Murphy said in information to obtain a warrant filed at Dartmouth provincial court.
INFOTAINMENT SYSTEM ANALYZED
He noted the Audi would be “returned to the owner once the forensic processing and data download from the infotainment system is complete.”
Police charged Lewis and Takara Heather Hamood, 19, with attempted murder. Lewis is also charged with possessing a weapon for dangerous purposes, which stems from the same incident.
Both of them are slated to appear in court on June 27 for election and/or plea. Neither accused has previous convictions in Nova Scotia.
Talbot is currently facing charges for a sledgehammer attack on Oct. 22, 2022, where Steven Ariel Itzhakov was robbed by two men, stabbed several times, and lost teeth. His assailants even tried to cut off one of Itzhakov’s pinky fingers.
TEETH IMPLANTS NEEDED
Talbot’s three-day trial on charges including aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and robbery is scheduled for November.
Itzhakov said last month that he had recovered from the October attack.
“I still need to get teeth implants though,” Itzhakov said.