After a stranger allegedly attacked his car with a knife following a confrontation at a west Edmonton gas station, a man says he is concerned by how long it took police to respond.

“[He was] just going crazy,” Michael Fry said of the man he alleges threatened him before attacking his vehicle this week.

Early Monday morning, Fry said he was walking out of a 7/11 convenience store gas station near 165 Street and 87 Avenue in the Meadowlark area, when he saw a man with black clothing and a black facemask trying to get into his car.

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“All of a sudden, this guy just walked around the other side of my car, said, ‘I’ve got a knife [and] I’m going to stab you…’ [and] then proceeded to come towards me at the door.

“That’s when I backed into the store, locked the door and then this guy just proceeded to walk back up to my car and then just started to… [plunge] a knife into my windshield, my headlight… my mirrors, my doors, just all around the car.” Tweet This

The incident happened at this 7/11 convenience store gas station near 165 Street and 87 Avenue in west Edmonton’s Meadowlark area. Global News

Fry said he called 911 right away, but that it took police about an hour to respond which left him concerned.

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“The whole thing of waiting there for an hour [for police to show up] — I think to myself, ‘What if I would have got my car? What if I wouldn’t have purchased a pack of cigarettes and seen these guys doing what they’re doing and I went up to my car? Coffee’s in my hand — I got no way of defending myself.”

Edmonton police told Global News they received Fry’s call at 5:25 a.m. and explained the process behind how and when officers responded.

“At 5:28 a.m., it was reported that the suspect was leaving the area on foot,” Cheryl Voordenhout, a spokesperson for the Edmonton Police Service, told Global News in an email.

“The call was initially assigned a priority of three, which is a high-priority call, but was subsequently downgraded to priority four when the suspect left the area.

“The unit that was responding to the initial call was then rerouted to a nearby assault in progress that was also reported at around the same time.” Tweet This

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Voordenhout said that “this type of triaging is a necessary part of policing, as officers and police dispatch must make quick decisions in real time based on the information they have.”

“[They] must prioritize events that are in progress where a person is in immediate danger.”