A man camping near Vancouver’s first Safe Stay Community was taken to an area hospital after he was hit in the face with a golf club Wednesday morning.
Vancouver police responded at about 10:20 a.m. to the east of the community, called The Outpost, at 11400 N.E. 51st Circle, in the North Image neighborhood.
The victim was inside a tent when another man hit his tent with a baseball bat, according to Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.
The man with the baseball bat was a resident of The Outpost, according to Jamie Spinelli, Vancouver’s homelessness response coordinator.
The man inside the tent reportedly grabbed a machete and poked it at the man with the bat, stabbing him in the hand. When the man came out of his tent, the man with the bat then hit him in the face with a golf club, Kapp said in an email.
The suspect left the area and was not located, Kapp said, but police have identified him.
The victim was evaluated at the hospital.
Spinelli said the suspect will not be allowed to return to The Outpost and that this was the first violent incident involving anyone from a Safe Stay Community since The Outpost opened Dec. 23. She called the incident “devastating.”
Spinelli and the staff at The Outpost have been cooperating with Vancouver police, she said. She noted that camping within 1,000 feet of the Safe Stay communities is prohibited, in part because dynamics between people experiencing hardships, such as homelessness, can be difficult to manage.
