VANCOUVER - A Surrey man is Vancouver's first homicide victim this year.
Police found Robert Tyson Smith, 28, lying unconscious on a sidewalk near Granville and Georgia, shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday. He was rushed to hospital, where he died.
Sgt. Randy Fincham, of the Vancouver Police, said Smith was stabbed to death during a fight over a taxicab. It was the second stabbing involving Surrey men fighting over taxicabs in Vancouver this past weekend (see story below).
Fincham said a cab driver at Granville and Georgia streets got into an argument with two men and Smith, a passenger in the cab, got out and joined in the dispute.
"The argument quickly escalated into a fight between the two men and the passenger, and ended with the passenger being stabbed," Fincham said.
Police have since arrested two men. Both have been released pending further investigation and charges have not yet been laid in the stabbing. Police ask anyone with information to contact the Vancouver Police Homicide Unit at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.