Police are investigating a random hammer attack in Burnaby Friday morning.

A 60-year-old Burnaby man told the NOW he had been standing in line at the Highgate Save-On Foods on Kingsway just before 8 a.m. when a stranger came up behind him without warning and hit him in the back of the head with a hammer.

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“There were about 20 people in line from the back of the mall to the door,” said the victim, who did not want his name published. “I was just standing there, third in line to get in, and I heard someone go ‘Whoa!’ behind me, and, the next thing you know, some guy, black man, about six-feet tall, hit me in the head with a hammer.”

The alleged attacker ran off, and the man said he chased him briefly but couldn’t catch him.

By the time police arrived, the man said he was bleeding heavily from a gash in his head, which took six stitches to close.

“I’m pretty suspicious about people, but at eight in the morning I didn’t really think I’d have to be looking around for somebody coming and attacking me,” he said.

Police conducted patrols in the area but were unable to locate the hammer-wielding man, according to Burnaby RCMP.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, police said.

The man described his alleged attacker as a six-foot-tall black man in his early 20s, dressed in black and wearing a cap, sunglasses and a bandana over his face.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Burnaby RCMP at 604-646-999. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or at www.solvecrime.ca.



