A 43-year-old man walking his dog Friday evening in downtown Chilliwack was stabbed after he asked a group of young people to pick up their litter.
"For a man to get stabbed over asking someone not to litter is unbelievable," RCMP Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth said.
She said police were called at about 10:45 p.m. about a man reportely stabbed and lying on the sidewalk outside the Newmark Apartments at 46289 Yale Road.
"The victim told police he was out walking his dog when he encountered a group of four people," Hollingsworth said.
When he saw them throwing beverage cups on the ground near a garbage can, he asked them to pick up their litter and put it in the garbage.
"They didn't, so he did," Hollingworth said.
But then a verbal argument began, she said, and "the man was allegedly pepper-sprayed and stabbed."
The victim is recovering now in Chilliwack General Hospital.
Hollingsworth said the victim told police that the man who stabbed him was possibly a First Nations man in his early 20s, about 5'11" tall, with a scruffy moustache.
"He was wearing a white, hooded jacket with black tribal designs on the arms, or possibly a black dragon design on the front," she said.
"He was with two Caucasion men who were wearing black clothing," she said. "He could not describe them further, but said one of them may have been on a bike."
The fourth member of the group was a female, also in her early 20s, about 5'5" tall, with a thin build and dirty-blond hair.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about it is asked to call the Chilliwack RCMP at 604-792-4611 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- TIPS.