North Vancouver stabbing attack: Suspect’s friend says she’s shocked as police search for motive

Friends and relatives always declare themselves ‘shocked’. As if convictions for violence never suggested to them that their friend was well, violent? An update on the North Vancouver library murder and attacks. From  the Vancouver Sun and CTV News, and mindful of Bill Corden’s  comment here earlier today. 

VANCOUVER — A man charged with second-degree murder in Saturday’s knife attack in North Vancouver, B.C., refused to leave his cell to participate in a scheduled court appearance by telephone Monday morning.

Yannick Bandaogo, 28, faces one count of second-degree murder.

On Saturday, seven people were attacked in and around the Lynn Valley Library in North Vancouver, and one person died as a result of their injuries. 

Bandaogo, who is being held at the North Vancouver RCMP detachment, was scheduled to appear at 9:30 a.m. but that was delayed while the court waited for a French language interpreter. Eventually, shortly before noon, the scheduled appearance began with an RCMP officer appearing by phone to tell the court the suspect would not leave his cell.

Provincial court Judge Patricia Janzen agreed to reschedule the appearance for Thursday morning.

As mourners placed flowers at a makeshift memorial at the Lynn Valley Library Monday, Insp. Michelle Tansey, acting head of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said several motives have been ruled out, but the reasons behind the senseless violence remain a mystery.

“As you can appreciate, we’re still in the early stages of our investigation. We continue to investigate the potential motive behind the incident, as well as the suspect’s background and history in British Columbia,” Tansey said. “We can establish that the accused was unknown and did not have any links to any of the victims based on our information so far. The accused does have links to Quebec and we’re still trying to determine what brought him to the West Coast.”

She said there is no suggestion that Bandaogo was radicalized or was targeting women, despite the fact six of the seven victims were female. 

“We understand that there will be questions about the suspect and the desire to understand the motive behind this senseless act. But we are still in the early stages, and we may not be able to provide you answers at this time … I assure you it is far from over. I realize that this is a profound and tragic incident that has deeply affected a great many people especially the members of the Lynn Valley community. Please know that IHIT is committed to completing a full and complete investigation, leaving no stone unturned.”

Tansey said Bandaogo had a history of violence in Quebec and had warrants out for his arrest in both Quebec and Manitoba at the time of the stabbings.

Asked whether he was known to have mental-health issues, Tansey said: “We always consider mental health in terms of the assessment of the suspect and everything is being assessed at this point.”

She said police are also trying to determine his whereabouts in the days before he showed up at the library, which was having a used book sale Saturday. 

Bandaogo used to train at Techno-Boxe boxing club in Longueuil, where Sandra Babou first met him in 2014. Babou, then-executive assistant in the boxing club, told Postmedia on Monday that she was “stunned and sad” to hear of his arrest.

“I never thought that Yannick could have been accused of such a situation,” she said in French.  “He was a boy who has always been kind and respectful to me and grateful for the help that we could give him.”

Bandaogo’s Facebook page has a number of photos of himself, including one showing his head tattoo that appears to say: “le savoir est une arme” or knowledge is a weapon.