Joggers are on the alert after a man jumped from the bushes in a ski mask and grabbed a woman at the popular Westwood Lake trail in Nanaimo on Sunday evening.
Nanaimo RCMP said they initially received a report from two other joggers, saying that they came across a third woman just after 5 p.m. at the end of the trail.
She appeared to be “shaken and frightened,” and had been involved in some type of an altercation with a man. The woman has also now made a report to the RCMP and said she managed to punch and kick her attacker several times.
He was last seen running away toward the power lines, said Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien, who released the information on Tuesday morning.
The man was described as wearing dark pants, a light-coloured T-shirt and a dark ski mask, said O’Brien.
He added that some of the risk involved in running on the popular trail can be mitigated by “running in pairs” and not wearing earbuds that impair outside sounds.
This latest incident comes on the heels of a groping incident at Vancouver Island University on March 28 in a campus parking lot.
The woman in that incident also fought off her attacker and ran away.
A composite sketch of the suspect was released May 23. Nanaimo RCMP do not yet know if there is any connection between the incidents and are continuing to investigate.
