Vancouver Police have one man in custody for firearms offences after a brief bicycle and foot chase through northeast Vancouver late yesterday afternoon.
At about 5:30 p.m., a man was walking on the sidewalk on the south side of East Hastings Street at Renfrew when he saw another man ride towards him along the sidewalk on a BMX bike.
The pedestrian happened to turn around and saw the cyclist allegedly pull what he believed was a handgun out of a black shoulder bag.
The cyclist put the gun back into the bag, rode up to a car that had stopped at the intersection, made a gun gesture with his hand, and again pulled out what appeared to be a handgun, showing it to the driver of the car.
The pedestrian saw the driver of the car and the cyclist exchange words and then the cyclist rode off westbound on the south sidewalk of E. Hastings Street.
Police were called and officers quickly spotted the suspect in the 2700 block E Hastings Street astride his bike. They approached and challenged him, but he took off on his bike, cycling into oncoming traffic and then across East Hastings Street and northbound on Kaslo towards Triumph Street. As he rode towards the PNE grounds, he looked back at the police cars closing in on him and crashed into a tree.
The cyclist left his bike and the handbag containing the gun and tried to run away on foot, but was quickly caught as he tried to escape police at East Hastings and Lillooet Street.
The 28 year old man of no fixed address remains in custody and is facing a variety of firearms-related charges, as well as charges for breaching conditions to not possess any firearms resulting from a previous conviction.
