Killing of Paul Schmidt

Last updated
Killing of Paul Schmidt
Location of killing in Downtown Vancouver
Location Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates 49°28′47″N123°11′52″W / 49.47972°N 123.19778°W / 49.47972; -123.19778
DateMarch 26, 2023 (2023-03-26)
c. 5:40 p.m. (PST, UTC-8)
DeathsPaul Stanley Schmidt
MotiveArgument over vaping
AccusedInderdeep Singh Gosal

Paul Stanley Schmidt was a 37-year-old Canadian who was the victim of a fatal stabbing on March 26, 2023, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

The accused, Inderdeep Singh Gosal, age 32, was arrested under charges of second-degree murder, with a hearing scheduled in Vancouver provincial court for April 11. [4] [5]

Killing

At around 5:30 PM, Paul Schmidt accompanied his fiancée Ashley Umali and their daughter to a Starbucks coffee shop located at the corner of West Pender Street and Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver. Umali went inside to order while Schmidt, and their daughter in a stroller, waited outside. While outside, Schmidt spoke with Gosal for using an electronic cigarette and requested him not to vape around his daughter. An argument began and an altercation ensued at which point Gosal produced his knife, using it to stab Schmidt in the neck. [1] [6] A pedestrian, Alex Bodger, began filming the incident as Gosal yelled "fucking bitch" to Schmidt as he staggered and fell to the ground bleeding. Bodger continued filming Schmidt, posing for TikTok and exclaiming "this motherfucker just died, bro." [3] [7] Gosal also began filming Schmidt on the ground from inside the Starbucks. Other bystanders flagged down a constable patrolling the area and police responded to the scene around 5:40 P.M. [8] Officers attempted medical assistance on Schmidt, but he was declared dead after being rushed to the hospital. Gosal was arrested without resistance. [1] [4]

Aftermath

Schmidt's family, the Vancouver Police Department, and mayor Ken Sim issued statements asking people not to share images and video of the stabbing over social media. Schmidt's sister Jessica Foxx wrote on Facebook condemning the attack and Bodger's filming of it, typing "Someone took my brother's life yesterday and another person filmed it (do NOT watch) instead of calling the police and worse off posted it on social media very clearly for views." Their mother, Kathy Schmidt, told the Vancouver Sun about her son's killing, saying "This is so horribly wrong what happened," and that "[Gosal] had a knife. I don't carry a knife into a coffee shop, do you?" [1] [9] [10] A fundraiser on GoFundMe for fiancée Ashley Umali and daughter Erica Schmidt was organized by the local Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society, whose Executive Director Lorraine Lowe is a neighbor and friend of Umali's cousin. The fundraiser successfully raised over $165,000 CAD before the end of the month. [4] [11]

Mayor Ken Sim (2022).png
Mayor Ken Sim Twitter
@KenSimCity

This is an awful and tragic story to hear about. Nobody should ever feel unsafe walking around out (sic) city.

Our hearts go out to Mr Schmidt and his family — out of respect for them and their loss, please refrain from sharing graphic images or videos of the incident on social media.

March 27, 2023 [12]

Becoming the sixth homicide in Vancouver in 2023, [13] Schmidt's killing was cited on March 28 (along with three other stabbing deaths also from within the prior three days) by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre while addressing an increase in knife crime in Canada's big cities. [14] Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Addison stated the VPD "[believes] this homicide was witnessed by dozens of bystanders" and for any witnesses to provide the information privately to the police, adding in reference to Bodger's video "You don't need me to tell you that sharing a graphic, gratuitous video of someone's dying moments is inappropriate. Anyone with a sense of good taste knows that's inappropriate." [9] [15] Mayor Ken Sim retweeted the DailyHive's coverage of the killing, giving condolences to Schmidt's family. [12]

Bodger uploaded his video and photos with Schmidt to TikTok, the video going viral and spreading to platforms such as Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter. [3] [9] The video provoked discussion of the bystander effect and backlash towards the TikToker for his apathetic behavior. Internet commentator Charles White Jr. compared Bodger's actions to the Logan Paul suicide forest controversy, calling the whole incident "something extremely infuriating." [16] In an interview with Global News, Bodger claimed he was traumatized by the killing and was only smirking in his video because he tends to smile during "uncomfortable situations", but would later post a video saying “Yeah, this shit, it doesn't faze me too much [...] I'll just say human life to me, the way I look at it, if I don't know you, it's meaningless, it's meaningless. I'm just keeping it straight up." [9] [17] Bodger would also reportedly return to the Starbucks the day after Schmidt's death to take pictures of himself smoking cigarettes for social media. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knife game</span> Game involving a knife and ones fingers

The knife game, pinfinger, nerve, bishop, knife fingies, five finger fillet (FFF), or chicken is a game wherein, placing the palm of one's hand down on a table with fingers apart, using a knife, or other sharp object, one attempt to stab back and forth between one's fingers, trying not to hit one's fingers. The game is intentionally dangerous, exposing players to the risk of injury and scarring, and, before antibiotics, an incision or penetration risked sepsis and death. A foldable blade carries the additional danger that, "as the faster you go, the more likely the blade will fold back in on itself trapping the finger of your stabbing hand." It may be played much more safely by using another object, such as the eraser side of a pencil or a marker with its cap on. In European culture it is traditionally considered a boys' game. However, its focus on motor coordination and dexterity is comparable to clapping games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dendermonde nursery attack</span> Stabbing attack on a daycare centre

The Dendermonde nursery attack was a stabbing attack on the Fabeltjesland daycare centre in the Flemish village of Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde in Dendermonde, Belgium, at 10:00 a.m. CET on January 23, 2009. Three people were stabbed to death, and twelve were mutilated in the attack. The suspect has been linked to a separate murder of an elderly lady and police have suggested he was plotting more nursery attacks. The daycare centre where the initial attack occurred is expected never to reopen.

A series of uncoordinated mass stabbings, hammer attacks, and cleaver attacks in the People's Republic of China began in March 2010. The spate of attacks left at least 90 dead and some 473 injured. As most cases had no known motive, analysts have blamed mental health problems caused by rapid social change for the rise in these kinds of mass murder and murder-suicide incidents.

The 2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack was a combined vehicular assault and stabbing attack carried out at 01:40 (GMT+2) 29 August 2011 in which a Palestinian attacker stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular nightclub, Haoman 17, in Tel Aviv which was filled with 2,000 Israeli teenagers. After crashing into the checkpoint, the attacker jumped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people. Four civilians, four police officers, and also perpetrator were injured in the attack. The perpetrator was living illegally in Israel at the time of the attack.

Sergeant Almog Shiloni of the Israel Defense Forces was killed on 10 November 2014 after he was stabbed multiple times at Tel Aviv HaHagana Railway Station. He died in hospital from his wounds. Shiloni was off-duty, but in uniform and armed at the time.

During the morning rush hour of 21 January 2015, a Palestinian man from Tulkarm, West Bank boarded a bus in Tel Aviv and stabbed multiple people in a terrorist attack. After the bus he boarded had driven about 400 meters, the Palestinian attacked the driver, who fought back, before turning to other passengers and attacking them. The bus stopped, with the passengers fleeing, and the Palestinian attacked others too. Israeli police shot the terrorist in the foot and arrested him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lions' Gate stabbings</span> 2015 incident in Jerusalem, Israel

On 3 October 2015, a Palestinian resident of al-Bireh attacked the Benita family near the Lions' Gate in Jerusalem, as they were on their way to the Western Wall to pray. The attacker murdered Aaron Benita, the father of the family, and injured the mother Adele and their 2-year-old son Matan. Nehemia Lavi, a resident who heard screams and came to help was also murdered and his gun taken by the assailant. The attacker, 19 year old Muhanad Shafeq Halabi was shot and killed by police as he was firing on pedestrians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leytonstone tube station attack</span>

On 5 December 2015, a man armed with what was described as a blunt 3-inch (7.5 cm) bread knife attacked three people at Leytonstone Underground station in East London. One of the three victims was seriously injured, and the other two sustained minor stab wounds. The attacker was named as 29-year-old Muhaydin Mire of Leytonstone, who was found guilty of attempted murder in June 2016.

Livestreamed crime is a phenomenon in which people publicly livestream, criminal acts on social media platforms such as Twitch or Facebook Live.

On 2 August 2017, a 19-year old Palestinian teen critically injured an Israeli civilian with a knife at a local supermarket in the city of Yavne, located in the Central District of Israel. The attacker was subsequently arrested after being captured by civilians who were at the spot. Police confirmed the attack was an act of terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Turku attack</span> Terrorist attack in Turku, Finland

The 2017 Turku attack took place on 18 August 2017 at around 16:02–16:05 (UTC+3) when 10 people were stabbed in central Turku, Southwest Finland. Two women were killed in the attack and eight people sustained injuries.

On the night of December 28, 2019, the seventh night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, a masked man wielding a large knife or machete invaded the home of a Hasidic rabbi in Monsey, Rockland County, New York, where a Hanukkah party was underway, and began stabbing the guests. Five men were wounded, two of whom were hospitalized in critical condition. Party guests forced the assailant to flee by wielding chairs and a small table. Three months after the stabbing, the most severely injured stabbing victim, Rabbi Josef Neumann, aged 72, died of his wounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Reading stabbings</span> Stabbing attack in Reading, England

On 20 June 2020, shortly before 19:00 BST, a man with a knife attacked people who were socialising in Forbury Gardens, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. Three men died from their wounds, and three other people were seriously injured. A 25-year-old Libyan male refugee named Khairi Saadallah was arrested nearby shortly afterwards. Saadallah was a former member of the Libyan militant group Ansar al-Sharia. He was charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder; he pleaded guilty. In January 2021, Saadallah was sentenced to a whole-life term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pisgat Ze'ev stabbings</span> 2015 stabbing attack in Israel

On October 12, 2015, two Palestinian boys, 15-year-old Hassan Khalid Manasra and his cousin 13-year-old Ahmad Manasra, both from Beit Hanina, stabbed two Israelis in Pisgat Ze'ev, an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem. The victims were 20-year-old Yosef Ben-Shalom, a security guard, and Naor Shalev Ben-Ezra, a 13-year-old boy. Hassan was shot dead by a police officer while Ahmad was struck by a car. The attack attracted significant attention among both Israelis and Palestinians, because of the young age of the attackers.

The 2021 Würzburg stabbing occurred on 25 June 2021 in Würzburg, Germany. Abdirahman Jibril, a 24-year-old homeless man of Somalian nationality killed three civilians with a kitchen knife in a Woolworth store and wounded seven others. Minutes later, the police shot the suspect into his leg and arrested him. He had a history of several violent altrications since his 2015 arrival as an asylum seeker in Germany and one day involuntary commitment into a psychiatric hospital a month before the attack. Islamist motives were suspected; he himself said the attack was 'his jihad'. Another refugee accused him to be an al-Shabaab member, who had killed civilians, journalist and police officers in Somalia, which German authorities could not confirm.

Ronnie McNutt was a 33-year-old American man and US Army Reserve veteran from New Albany, Mississippi, who committed suicide by shooting himself under his chin on a Facebook livestream, which went viral on various social media platforms due to its inherent shock value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 University of Idaho killings</span> Mass stabbing in Moscow, Idaho, U.S.

In the early hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were fatally stabbed in an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. On December 30, 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mari Emmanuel</span> Iraqi-born Australian bishop (born 1970)

Mar Mari Emmanuel is an Iraqi-born, Assyrian Australian prelate. He is the bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, New South Wales, which hosts the highest number of Assyrian Christians—many of them refugees from Iraq and Syria—in any suburban Australian neighbourhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Wakeley church stabbing</span> Terrorist attack in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

On 15 April 2024, at approximately 7:15 pm local time, an unnamed person perpetrated a knife attack at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. During a live-streamed sermon, the attacker walked up to the pulpit, first stabbing Bishop Mari Emmanuel and a priest before injuring another churchgoer. While no one was killed, this attack was the second stabbing incident to have taken place in Sydney in three days, following the deadly mass stabbing at Bondi Junction.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Steinbuch, Yaron (March 29, 2023). "Dad killed outside Starbucks after allegedly asking attacker not to vape near his toddler". New York Post . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  2. Kilander, Gustaf (March 29, 2023). "Father stabbed to death at Vancouver Starbucks after asking man not to vape near his daughter". The Independent . Washington, DC. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Steinbuch, Yaron (March 31, 2023). "TikToker Alex Bodger faces backlash for selfie near Canadian dad slain at Starbucks". New York Post . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 The Canadian Press (Mar 29, 2023). "Fatal stabbing after reported vaping argument casts a pall over downtown Vancouver". CBC News . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  5. Bhattacharyya, Anirudh (Mar 28, 2023). "Canada: Fatal stabbing in Vancouver leaves city shaken". Hindustan Times . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  6. Balagtas, Tristan (March 29, 2023). "Dad Was Killed on Starbucks Patio After Allegedly Asking Suspect to Stop Vaping Near Toddler Daughter". People . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  7. Thomas, Colleen Dilthey (Mar 30, 2023). "Vancouver Dad Killed on Starbucks Patio After Asking Someone Not To Vape Near His Toddler". CafeMom.com. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  8. Nassar, Hana Mae (Mar 27, 2023). "Stabbing at Vancouver Starbucks leaves one man dead". Vancouver CityNews . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Lazaruk, Susan (Mar 28, 2023). "Father stabbed to death outside Vancouver Starbucks after asking man to not vape near his toddler". Vancouver Sun . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  10. MacMahon, Martin; Nassar, Hana Mae. "Mother of Vancouver stabbing victim devastated: 'Nobody ... called for help'". Vancouver CityNews . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  11. Duncan, Josh (Mar 31, 2023). "Fundraiser for family of man murdered outside Vancouver Starbucks surpasses $165K". KamloopsNow. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  12. 1 2 @KenSimCity (March 28, 2023). "This is an awful and tragic story to hear about. Nobody should ever feel unsafe walking around out city. Our hearts go out to Mr Schmidt and his family — out of respect for them and their loss, please refrain from sharing graphic images or videos of the incident on social media" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  13. Duncan, Josh (Mar 28, 2023). "Murder charge laid after shocking stabbing outside downtown Vancouver Starbucks". KamloopsNow. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  14. MacMahon, Martin; Nassar, Hana Mae (Mar 28, 2023). "Vancouver stabbing ups pressure on governments to address random attacks". Vancouver CityNews . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  15. Devlin, Megan (March 27, 2023). "Man dead in apparent random stabbing outside downtown Vancouver Starbucks (PHOTOS)". Daily Hive . Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  16. This Situation Is Horrible. YouTube . penguinz0. March 31, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  17. Judd, Amy; Little, Simon (March 27, 2023). "Murder charge laid after man stabbed outside Vancouver Starbucks dies" . Retrieved March 31, 2023.