| Killing of Paul Schmidt | |
| Location: | Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Time: | 5:40 p.m. |
| Timezone: | PST, UTC-8 |
| Fatalities: | Paul Stanley Schmidt |
| Motive: | Argument over vaping |
| Accused: | Inderdeep Singh Gosal |
Paul Stanley Schmidt was a 37-year-old Canadian who was the victim of a fatal stabbing on March 26, 2023, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1] [2] [3]
The accused, Inderdeep Singh Gosal, age 32, was arrested under charges of second-degree murder, with a hearing scheduled in Vancouver provincial court for April 11.[4] [5]
At around 5:30 PM, Paul Schmidt accompanied his fiancée Ashley Umali and their daughter to a Starbucks coffee shop located at the corner of West Pender Street and Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver. Umali went inside to order while Schmidt, and their daughter in a stroller, waited outside. While outside, Schmidt spoke with Gosal for using an electronic cigarette and requested him not to vape around his daughter. An argument began and an altercation ensued at which point Gosal produced his knife, using it to stab Schmidt in the neck.[6] A pedestrian, Alex Bodger, began filming the incident as Gosal yelled "fucking bitch" to Schmidt as he staggered and fell to the ground bleeding. Bodger continued filming Schmidt, posing for TikTok and exclaiming "this motherfucker just died, bro."[7] Gosal also began filming Schmidt on the ground from inside the Starbucks. Other bystanders flagged down a constable patrolling the area and police responded to the scene around 5:40 P.M.[8] Officers attempted medical assistance on Schmidt, but he was declared dead after being rushed to the hospital. Gosal was arrested without resistance.
Schmidt's family, the Vancouver Police Department, and mayor Ken Sim issued statements asking people not to share images and video of the stabbing over social media. Schmidt's sister Jessica Foxx wrote on Facebook condemning the attack and Bodger's filming of it, typing "Someone took my brother's life yesterday and another person filmed it (do NOT watch) instead of calling the police and worse off posted it on social media very clearly for views." Their mother, Kathy Schmidt, told the Vancouver Sun about her son's killing, saying "This is so horribly wrong what happened," and that "[Gosal] had a knife. I don't carry a knife into a coffee shop, do you?"[9] [10] A fundraiser on GoFundMe for fiancée Ashley Umali and daughter Erica Schmidt was organized by the local Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society, whose Executive Director Lorraine Lowe is a neighbor and friend of Umali's cousin. The fundraiser successfully raised over $165,000 CAD before the end of the month.[11]
Becoming the sixth homicide in Vancouver in 2023,[12] Schmidt's killing was cited on March 28 (along with three other stabbing deaths also from within the prior three days) by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre while addressing an increase in knife crime in Canada's big cities.[13] Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Addison stated the VPD "[believes] this homicide was witnessed by dozens of bystanders" and for any witnesses to provide the information privately to the police, adding in reference to Bodger's video "You don't need me to tell you that sharing a graphic, gratuitous video of someone's dying moments is inappropriate. Anyone with a sense of good taste knows that's inappropriate."[14] Mayor Ken Sim retweeted the DailyHive's coverage of the killing, giving condolences to Schmidt's family.
Bodger uploaded his video and photos with Schmidt to TikTok, the video going viral and spreading to platforms such as Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter. The video provoked discussion of the bystander effect and backlash towards the TikToker for his apathetic behavior. Internet commentator Cr1TiKaL compared Bodger's actions to the Logan Paul suicide forest controversy, calling the whole incident "something extremely infuriating."[15] In an interview with Global News, Bodger claimed he was traumatized by the killing and was only smirking in his video because he tends to smile during "uncomfortable situations", but would later post a video saying “Yeah, this shit, it doesn't faze me too much [...] I'll just say human life to me, the way I look at it, if I don't know you, it's meaningless, it's meaningless. I'm just keeping it straight up."[16] Bodger would also reportedly return to the Starbucks the day after Schmidt's death to take pictures of himself smoking cigarettes for social media.