The partner of a man injured near Saanich’s Beaver Lake is warning others to stay alert after what the family believes may have been an attempted mugging on Tuesday evening.
In a social media post, the woman — whose name we are not publishing — said her boyfriend had stopped at the Elk Lake Road entrance between 6:30 and 7 p.m. to use the washroom when a stranger approached him from behind.
“He yelled at him not to move and that he had a knife,” she wrote. “My boyfriend turned around and defended himself and got out of this with only his face cut up with shallow cuts.”
She added that the suspect ran into the park and that police responded quickly afterward.
“They were actually there. I saw no less than 12 officers,” she wrote, saying police searched the trails with dogs.
She urged others who use Beaver Lake and Elk Lake to stay aware and share the warning.
She also said her partner may have been targeted because he was alone.
“Right before he got out of his vehicle he saw a family leaving with a child and a couple. We believe he became targeted because he was alone,” she wrote.
Saanich Police confirmed they responded to a report of an assault at around 8:30 p.m. on December 9th at the intersection of Elk Lake Road and Beaver Lake Road.
Officers found an injured man who declined medical attention and additional supports. A search of the park was carried out with help of a police dog, but the suspect was not located.
Police describe the suspect as a Caucasian man in his 30s, between 5’8″ and 5’10”, with a medium build and buzzed short brown hair.
The partner’s post offered a similar description and said he was “wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie, no footwear, brown buzz cut hair, clean shaven, roughly five foot ten in height and weighing approximately 175 to 185 pounds.”
The partner believes the man may have been trying to rob him. Police say the incident appears to be isolated and the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone who was in the Beaver Lake area between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., or who may have dashcam footage, is asked to contact Saanich Police at (250) 475-4321.
