Saanich Police are investigating an assault that left one person with significant facial injuries earlier this month.
According to the Saanich Police Department, officers were called to the 1600 block of McKenzie Avenue just before 9:30 p.m. on January 22nd after a person dialed 911 to report they had been assaulted.
Police say officers arrived to find the victim suffering from serious facial injuries and the individual was later transported to hospital for treatment.
The circumstances surrounding the assault remain under investigation, and police have not said whether the victim and suspect were known to each other.
Investigators are working to identify a suspect, described as a Caucasian male in his late 20s to early 30s, with short brown hair and no facial hair. He was reportedly wearing a brown jacket at the time of the incident.
While police have not released details about the victim, reports circulating online indicate the person attacked was an international graduate student at the University of Victoria.
The assault occurred near the Tuscany Village shopping complex.
A professor with the UVic biology department has described the assault as random and racially motivated, though Saanich Police have not confirmed those details.
Police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident or was driving in the area at the time and may have dashcam footage to contact Saanich police’s non-emergency line at (250) 475-4321 and reference file number 26-1447.
