5 Years in "Gotham City" of BC (My New Westminster Stories)
For the last five years, I worked in an office right near the New Westminster Court. I didn't hang around much after hours, I just commuted in and commuted out. But man, those commutes delivered some wild, core memories.
Here are my five wildest sories.
Episode 1: Gun pointing and the Casual Clapper
I was driving home from the office, stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on Canada Way, trying to head toward the highway. Suddenly, I heard screaming to my right. I looked over and saw two police officers on opposite street with guns drawn, pointing them directly at a guy sitting in his car.
Instead of panicking, the guy had his left hand hanging out the window, casually clapping along to his music like he was just vibing. I watched this surreal scene for about 20 seconds before traffic moved and I had to keep driving. I was frantically looking around for cameras, assuming it had to be a movie set. Nope, just a regular afternoon in Gotham. I was so shaken up I could barely focus on the rest of the drive.
Episode 2: The Sidewalk Sprinter
A few months later, I switched to taking the Skytrain to save myself the headache of rush hour traffic. It was a classic, rainy New West day around 5 PM, with just a little bit of daylight left. I was walking past the social/senior housing area near the Skytrain station when a tall guy behind me suddenly snapped.
He started yelling at the top of his lungs, calling me an "arrogant idiot" (which is such a hilariously formal street insult) along with a flood of vulgarities, and started power walking right at me. With all the news about random attacks in the Lower Mainland, my adrenaline spiked. I’m not a small guy, but I gripped my umbrella, ready to defend myself. Luckily, I am a very fast walker and managed to outpace him before anything happened.
Episode 3: The Coffee and Extinguisher Team
About a year later, I stepped off the Skytrain and noticed smoke pouring out of a run-down building near a sushi place. A window frame from inside was actively on fire. A crowd was just standing there watching. Since I used to be a volunteer firefighter in my youth back in my home country, my instincts kicked in.
Nobody had an extinguisher in their car, but a lady pointed to her office around the corner. We ran in, grabbed her extinguisher, and I rushed back. Just as I got there, a homeless guy smashed the burning window with a brick and threw his Tim Hortons coffee on the flames (which has to be the most Canadian firefighting attempt of all time). I pushed past him, unleashed the extinguisher, and put out the rest of the fire just as the firefighter trucks pulled up. The lady called me a hero and wanted my number to write a story, but I just told her it was no big deal and walked away. It was only later I realized that breathing in smoke from a burning, run-down building meant I probably inhaled some highly questionable chemicals. Luckily, I was totally fine and just smelled like a campfire.
Episode 4: The Block-Wide Bomb Threat
I was at my desk working when I was told by the manager to evacuate the building immediately due to a bomb threat. I looked past my monitors and saw a massive sea of about 1,500 students from Douglas College spilling out into the park. It wasn't just us, the police had shut down the entire multi-block perimeter, including our office, the college, the courthouse, and Service Canada. I was honestly feeling a bit lazy that day anyway, so I packed my bags and happily left.
Because I had an important call 30 minutes later, I walked the edge of the police tape looking for an open coffee shop. As I was hunting, two SWAT teams rolled hard toward the courthouse in those massive, heavy-duty armoured military vehicles with tiny bulletproof windows. It felt straight out of an action movie.
(Context: This was the major January 2025 incident where police shut down several blocks around the courthouse due to a targeted explosive threat, drawing a massive tactical response to sweep the area.)
Episode 5: The Hollywood-Style Convoy
By the spring and summer of 2025, the courthouse area turned into a permanent fortress. For a couple of weeks straight, my usual shortcut past the building was completely blocked by a heavily armed police perimeter. There were at least 15 tactical officers stationed at different corners carrying long rifles and shotguns.
One morning I was running late, and the police forced me to detour all the way around the block. As I was walking, I got to see what they were waiting for: a convoy of three identical, dark SUVs with completely blacked-out windows flying down the street with their interior emergency lights strobing, aggressively clearing the road.
(Context: This massive security spike was for the high-profile first-degree murder trial of Brandon Teixeira, an accused contract killer. Because of the extreme security risks, BC Sheriffs and armored tactical teams essentially locked down the block and ran high-security motorcades for the duration of the trial.)
Look, despite the bomb threats, tactical deployments, aggressive sidewalk sprinters, and casual clappers at gunpoint, I actually miss the area.
What are your wildest, weirdest, or most "Gotham" moments in New West or Vancouver?