A London grocery worker was still in critical condition Wednesday morning after a stabbing outside a house owned by the Asian food store that employs him and one neighbours say is packed with people who also work there.

Police were left with a winding trail of blood and a sprawling crime scene — six houses were taped off — and residents of the northwest neighbourhood with unanswered questions about the victim and a man charged, both of whom reportedly came to Toronto to work at the store.

Six months ago, neighbours say, they began noticing large groups of Asians smoking outside two new houses at 1703 and 1709 Beaverbrook Ave.

It seemed odd for a neighbourhood mostly still under construction and home to mainly families and professionals, said neighbour Asif Sheikh.

The two houses were recently heavily renovated, he added.

Blood was smeared on the front door of 1709 Beaverbrook Tuesday and down its front banister, zig-zagging in a trail across two lawns, with droplets also found on parked cars, and onto Kettleridge Cres. where a large blood stain streaked one driveway.

In all, London police taped off six houses on Kettleridge and Beaverbrook as they documented the trail.

Despite the huge crime scene, neighbours were surprised to awake to forensic vans, police tape and police knocking on doors.

“We were scared and shocked as well,” said Sheikh. “I know most of my neighbours, and these are families — nice families.”

There was no answer at either Beaverbrook house when The Free Press knocked, but vehicles were parked in each garage — both, left open.

At 1703 Beaverbrook, a packing box for a folding bed was on the porch.

The stabbing victim, a 23-year-old Londoner, was in critical condition in hospital with stab wounds to his neck, said Const. Ken Steeves. Officers took another man into custody nearby, he said.

Yang Zhang, 21, of Toronto was charged with aggravated assault and having weapons dangerous to the public peace.

Police also seized a knife, but were still trying to confirm whether it was involved in the stabbing, said Steeves.

Investigators have determined the two men knew each other.

A manager at the Food Island Supermarket at Oxford St. and Wonderland Rd. confirmed both the hospitalized man and the one taken into custody by police began working at the store 10 days ago. The Asian supermarket had just opened three weeks ago, the manager said.

“We don’t know much about them,” she said, adding both recently came from Toronto to work at the store.

Neighbours said the two Beaverbrook houses were packed with people who work at the store.

Tax records show the house at 1709 Beaverbrook is owned by a numbered Ontario company, its registered address is 503 Oxford St. W. — the same address as the Food Island Supermarket.

The house next door, 1703 Beaverbrook, is owned by a person with a Mississauga address, whose name also appears as an administrator for the numbered Ontario company, a corporate profile report shows.

In London, under its property standards, houses can’t have more than one person for every 9.29 sq. metres of living space.

Orest Katolyk, London’s bylaw manager, declined comment — citing the police investigation — when asked if there’d been any complaints about 1703 or 1709 Beaverbrook.

While the city gets the odd complaint about housing overcrowding, “in most cases nobody even comes close” to violating the rule, he said.

Under the property standards, 20 people could live in a 185.8-sq.-m home, but it would be very cramped, he added.

Katolyk said a building permit was issued for 1703 Beaverbrook four years ago and for 1709 Beaverbrook in 2011.

Police and Middlesex-London EMS were called to Beaverbrook near Kettleridge Cres. about 12:25 a.m. Tuesday.

Steeves said the stabbing happened outside.

kelly.pedro@sunmedia.ca

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