Closer To Home...

13-year-old Chris Poeung was fatally stabbed Saturday night by a 14-year-old at Main Street/Science World SkyTrain station in Vancouver after an altercation involving a girl. Mr. Poeung wasn't directly involved in the brawl, however. Police describe the event as a "school yard type fight" and a "brawl" involving about 10 kids aged 13 to 15 and another 30 or so spectators.

The assailants were arrested a short time later, only a few blocks away; they were apprehended on a bus, and have been charged with manslaughter.

Of all the SkyTrain stations, Main Street/Science World is definitely the most dangerous, at least appearance-wise. Scrawled with grafitti (and the efforts to remove it) it resembles nothing less than a slum. That it is in the shadow of the Vancity Building and the condos of Citygate makes it the perfect emblem for Vancouver's growing disparity of wealth and poverty.

There have been a rash of attacks at SkyTrain stations in Vancouver lately, several of which occurred when there were no constables on site. Even though time after time studies have shown that a disproportionate amount of the city's crime happens at or around these stations, Transit Police have proven ineffective at dealing with it.

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