A 37-year-old dad was stabbed to death in front of his 3-year-old daughter and fiancée outside a Starbucks in Canada after he asked the attacker not to vape in front of his child, his family said.
Paul Stanley Schmidt and his daughter Erica were outside the Vancouver coffee shop about 5:30 p.m. Sunday while his fiancée, Ashley Umali, was getting drinks, his mother, Kathy Schmidt, told the Vancouver Sun.
A horrifying video posted on social media captured the moment a man suddenly stabbed Schmidt, who was seen clutching his stomach as he staggered and fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
Schmidt said she was told that the suspect — identified as 32-year-old Inderdeep Singh Gosa — carried out the depraved attack after her son asked him not to vape in front of Erica.
Paul Stanley Schmidt was fatally stabbed in front of his daughter, Erica, and his fiancee, Ashley Umali, after he told the attacker to not vape in front of his child.Courtesy of Family
“This is so horribly wrong what happened. He was just trying to protect his daughter. I’m angry and I’m sad,” she told the news outlet.
“It all started because he was vaping beside the baby. Ashley’s in shock — she watched the whole thing. She’s so devastated,” Schmidt added.
Gosa has been charged with second-degree murder, but Schmidt said she would like the charge to be upgraded to first-degree, which requires proof of premeditation.
The brutal attack was caught in a horrifying video captured by a bystander.
“He had a knife. I don’t carry a knife into a coffee shop, do you?” she said.
The grieving mom told CityNews that she was also shocked about how no one rushed to help her dying son.
“I was incredibly surprised that nobody from inside the Starbucks called for help, nobody outside called for help. It wasn’t until basically, he was in dire straits that somebody flagged down an officer on the sidewalk,” Schmidt told the outlet.
Schmidt grabbed his stomach, staggered, and fell after being stabbed.
“What kind of world are we living in when you take your family to Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon and you’re attacked and killed, with many people standing around videotaping and watching?” she said.
Police have only said that an officer on patrol was flagged down about 5:40 p.m. at Granville and West Pender streets after the stabbing, which followed a “brief altercation.”
The suspect did not resist when the officer arrested him inside the Starbucks, police spokesman Sgt. Steve Addison told the Vancouver Sun.
The suspect, 32-year-old Inderdeep Singh Gosa (pictured), has been charged with murder.
He said police are appealing for more witnesses and video to help investigators determine a motive in the senseless killing.
“There’s a significant amount of evidence to tell us what happened. What we are focusing on now is why did this happen. What are the events that transpired in the moments leading up to this very serious crime,” Addison said.
The spokesman also urged people not to share the shocking footage of the attack.
Schmidt worked at Jiffy Move, a moving company in Burnaby, for about five years.Courtesy of Family
“It’s graphic video. We are encouraging people not to share that video. We are encouraging people, if you’ve got video, if you are a bystander, if you are a witness, please come forward and speak to our investigators, provide it to our investigators,” he told the paper.
The slain man’s family also pleaded for people not to circulate the chilling video.
“Someone took my brother’s life yesterday and another person filmed it (do NOT watch) instead of calling the police and worse off posted it on social media very clearly for views,” Jessica Foxx wrote on Facebook.
“This is so horribly wrong what happened. He was just trying to protect his daughter. I’m angry and I’m sad,” said Schmidt’s mom, Kathy Schmidt.Courtesy of Family
“I am sick about this. My family is sick about this. I wrote this post many times being very angry & swearing but that won’t help anything,” she added.
Schmidt had worked at Jiffy Move, a moving company in Burnaby, for about five years.
“Paul was a great guy and a hard worker,” Sean Collings, the company’s operations manager, told the Vancouver Sun. “He was a devoted husband and father.”
Source: nypost.com
