Police link two random attacks on Fraser Valley buses

Police believe a young man wanted for an attack on a bus driver in Surrey may have stabbed a bus passenger in Aldergrove on Tuesday.

Police say a man was stepping off the bus near the Aldergrove Centre Mall at 272nd Street and Fraser Highway at about 4:45 p.m. when he was stabbed in the back.

The victim, a 41-year-old Langley man, was airlifted to hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

In the earlier incident on Feb. 18, the bus driver of a southbound 321 bus to White Rock asked the same suspect, who was standing too close to the windshield, to step a safe distance back.

The suspect obeyed the instructions, only to grab the bus driver with both hands and choke him.

The assailant fled, leaving the driver shaken, but not seriously hurt.

Serious Crime Investigators from both Surrey and Langley RCMP are now working with Transit Police to catch the person they believe is responsible for both attacks.

And the union that represents Translink bus drivers is also issuing a public warning about the assailant.

“This is really scary and it shows the type of passengers we are sometimes carrying,” said Gavin Davies, vice-president of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 111.

The suspect is described as a white male between the ages of 18 and 20 years old, five feet 10 inches with short, dark hair. He was wearing a black jacket over a hoodie and blue jeans during one of the attacks.

Anyone with information about the attacks is asked to call Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.