A man was stabbed at 2340 Bossert Avenue on Jan. 31, 2023, but he's expected to recover, according to Kamloops RCMP.
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February 04, 2023 - 6:00 PM
Neighbours watched as the situation around a Kamloops fourplex unit quickly deteriorated in recent months, culminating to a stabbing on Tuesday.
One man was taken to hospital and no one was arrested.
"It's very unnerving," one neighbour, who was concerned for her safety if her name were published, told iNFOnews.ca.
The fourplex at 2340 Bossert Avenue is home to three families and another single woman, who rents the unit where a man was stabbed this week.
Ajay Baines, local realtor and owner of the property, said the tenant once lived there with her family and she was a "great tenant" for about five years.
In recent months, things started to go downhill. In December, he learned Kamloops RCMP were regularly showing up at the fourplex.
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"I got the call from one of the tenants the day before Christmas Eve who said, 'there's lot of people staying here we've never seen before,'" Baines said. "I went in with the police because I had heard police had been called there a couple times before I'd been notified."
The tenant wasn't there, but two people he didn't know were.
Unable to do much, he left, but he started to keep track of what tenants reported.
"You don't want any monkey business going on, especially when it comes to little kids in the building," he said.
Neighbours would hear or see fights at the house, and taxis would drop people off at the house at all hours of the night, raising suspicion.
"There was always fights. Over the holidays between Christmas and New Year's, there was a fight at that house and five cop cars showed up and an ambulance," one area resident who calls himself Brody, said. "They fixed a guy up, and he went back into the house and police left."
Then a motorcycle was stolen nearby. It was found on the side of the fourplex shortly after.
"When the cops did the motorcycle bust, there was nine people living in the house," nearby resident, Pam, said.
Some thought activity started to quiet down after that, until a man was stabbed inside on Tuesday, Jan. 31.
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No one was arrested, but one man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
"Police said they can come back if they want and (officers) can't stop them, unless they're wanted," Brody said, explaining Kamloops RCMP appeared to wrap up their initial investigation Wednesday night, Feb. 1.
With kids at the house, he's concerned for his family's safety, too.
"What kind of crime is going to happen next?" his wife said.
They managed to capture surveillance footage of the home just hours before the stabbing.
They shared the surveillance footage with police, which shows a white GMC truck pull into the driveway where two people get out around 9:30 a.m.
Just before 11:30 a.m., two people then leave the house and drive away, with police arriving shortly after.
Kamloops RCMP have not mentioned a white truck to the public or offered any description of a suspect.
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The neighbours who spoke to iNFOnews.ca said the woman who lived in the fourplex seemed to be associating with dangerous people, which was a shift in behaviour after five years with no issues.
Meanwhile, residents in the area will be keeping an eye on the house. Many have security cameras and now have a heightened awareness since what was previously an issue limited to property crime and nuisance has escalated to violence.
Baines said he would have preferred to have evicted her much sooner, out of concern for the safety of nearby families and his other tenants. Instead, he's been waiting for the Residential Tenancy Board process.
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