Police have arrested a 20-year old man in relation to the stabbing death of Abbotsford’s Ethan Bespflug.
Bespflugwas stabbed on April 11, 2023 at 9:23 p.m.in bus the 9900-block of King George Boulevard.
According to Surrey RCMP the emergency first aid was provided but sadly, the victim, he died as a result of his injuries shortly after being transported to hospital.
IHIT took conduct of the investigation and on April 16, 2023, with the assistance of the Integrated Emergency Response Team (IERT), IHIT officers located and arrested 20-year old Kaiden Mintenko in relation to the homicide.
On April 17, 2023, the British Columbia Prosecution Service (BCPS) laid a charge of second-degree murder against Mintenko, who remains in custody.
“We would like to thank all members of the public who provided information that helped advance this investigation,” says Sergeant Timothy Pierotti of IHIT. “Though we are still working to determine the exact nature of the relationship between Mr. Bespflug and Mintenko, we can confirm that this was not a random attack.”
Brian Edwards, Officer in Charge of the Surrey RCMP in a statement said, “I extend my deepest condolences to Ethan’s friends and family. As a parent of a teenager myself it is heartbreaking. After all these years of being a police officer, I still struggle with the senselessness of certain crimes – this is one of those times.”
Although, there is nothing that can bring Ethan back, or make sense of this tragedy, I hope that this update will bring some level of comfort to his family and to the community, Edwards added.
While responding to increasing concern of public safety on Surrey transit, he said, “We continue to work closely with our partners at Metro Vancouver Transit Police.Secondly, we have increased patrols and presence by reassigning our Mobile Street Enforcement Team to Transit Hubs.Lastly, the investigative and intelligence led approach to prolific offenders using Transit will be front stage to address these issues into the future.These violent incidents generate community fear.”
