Hostel guest saved life of one victim in downtown stabbing attack, co-owner says
A hostel guest jumped in to save the life of a front-desk clerk during a stabbing attack in downtown Victoria Sunday morning that left one man dead, a co-owner of the hostel said.
Police responded to a report of a stabbing around 4 a.m. in the 700 block of Pandora Avenue, near Blanshard Street. Officers found one man dead and a second victim was taken to hospital with lifealtering injuries.
Lana Perelman, a co-owner of the Ocean Island Inn, said the victim who survived is a front-desk clerk. She has been released from hospital and is doing well, Perelman said Tuesday.
A guest jumped in during an altercation and probably saved the life of the employee, she said.
“He didn’t really know what kind of situation he was getting into. But the police said that, 100 per cent, he saved her life,” Perelman said.
The guest was not injured, she said. Perelman is not sure whether the attack began inside the hostel or outside, or what instigated it.
Perelman said she doesn’t know who died, but she does not believe the individual was staying at the hostel. He was found outside the building, she said.
Robert Henry Travers was taken into custody at the scene early Sunday and has been charged with aggravated assault in relation to the victim who survived, Victoria police confirmed Tuesday.
The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit continues to investigate the death, VicPD said.
Travers, who is in his 60s, was set to appear in court Tuesday afternoon for a bail hearing.
A long-term resident of the hostel said the man arrested had been staying at the hostel for several months. Perelman declined to confirm whether Travers was staying at the hostel.
The area around the Ocean Island Inn was cordoned off for much of Sunday while police investigated. Officers were going in and out of the hostel Sunday and a guest said a fourth-floor bathroom was behind police tape.