

Chris Kitching, CP24.com





Peel Regional Police say a man is in custody after a woman was seriously injured in a stabbing that occurred just steps from a Brampton police station Tuesday morning.

Officers spent about two hours looking for the man after the woman was attacked on Peel Centre Drive, which borders Bramalea City Centre, at about 6 a.m. Police have taped off a parking lot outside a FreshCo grocery store.

Witnesses told police they saw a man stabbing the woman as the pair sat inside a Honda CRV. The witnesses pulled her from the vehicle, interrupting the attack and possibly saving her life, said police spokesman Const. Thomas Ruttan.

After the attack, an Ornge air ambulance landed at the scene and airlifted the victim to a trauma centre in Toronto, where she was receiving emergency treatment for multiple stab wounds. She was listed in critical condition when she was rushed to hospital and police say her condition stabilized after she treated by medical staff.

Police officers arrived at the stabbing scene quickly and they pursued a vehicle that fled at high speed.

While fleeing police, the suspect's vehicle was involved in a collision with a police car and a civilian vehicle at Airport Road and Steeles Avenue. The pursuit was abandoned due to safety concerns.

About two hours after the stabbing, police arrested a male suspect at a home on Pickfair Drive in Mississauga. Paramedics transported the man to a Toronto hospital to be treated for self-inflicted knife wounds, said CP24 reporter Cam Woolley.

Ruttan said there is a relationship between the victim and suspect, and it appears the stabbing was an isolated incident.

Ruttan told reporters there was no reason for the public to fear for their safety while the suspect was at large.

@ChrisKitching is on Twitter. For up-to-the-minute breaking news, follow @CP24 on Twitter.