Good Samaritan wrestled knife from suspect during North Vancouver McDonald's hostage crisis

A Good Samaritan stepped in and disarmed an armed robbery suspect during a hostage crisis at a North Vancouver McDonald's on July 21, just after 1 p.m. The province's police watchdog is now asking for witnesses to come forward.

Arman Abadi, a 31-year-old East Vancouver resident, was inside the restaurant at Westview Shopping Centre when he noticed an erratic-looking man behind the counter. The suspect put a female employee in a headlock and held a knife to her throat. Most customers fled, but Abadi stayed and passed his phone to an older woman, asking her to call 911.

When the suspect brought the hostage from behind the counter while demanding money from the register, Abadi saw an opening. "I immediately grabbed both of my hands onto his knife hand and started struggling with him," Abadi said. "I know it was still dangerous but as safe as it was going to get to control that hand." He punched and headbutted the suspect while another bystander helped restrain him. Together they got control of the knife and threw it under a table, freeing the hostage.

The suspect didn't relent. He warned he had another knife—a box cutter—and demanded car keys to escape. He fled outside, stole a truck, crashed it into parked cars, and tried to carjack another vehicle at a nearby Esso station before police arrived. Officers surrounded the vehicle, and the suspect was shot. He was pronounced dead at Lions Gate Hospital.

The Independent Investigations Office is automatically reviewing the incident because a member of the public faced serious harm or death in police interaction. There were dozens of witnesses and cameras rolling in the busy plaza.