British Columbia

Vancouver police investigating city's 1st homicide of the year

Vancouver police are investigating after a man in his 30s was killed New Year's Day in the Downtown Eastside.

Man killed in Downtown Eastside apartment on New Year's Day

The side of a Vancouver Police van, with flashing emergency lights.
Vancouver police have identified the victim of Vancouver's first 2019 homicide as 39-year-old Matthew Dillen Johnson. (Gian-Paolo Mendoza/CBC)

Police are investigating Vancouver's first homicide of 2019.

Vancouver resident Matthew Dillen Johnson, 39, died Jan. 1 in an apartment on Powell Street near Gore Street in the Downtown Eastside, police say.

Officers responded to an assault call at the apartment just after 8 p.m. PT and found a man in medical distress. Police said he died at the scene.

The VPD's homicide unit is investigating. No arrests have been made but detectives do not believe the public is at risk.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

There were 15 homicides in the city in 2018, according to VPD spokesperson Jason Doucette.