Police have released the names of the victim and accused in Sunday’s homicide in White Rock.
White Rock resident Bruce Alexander Ridout, 61, was identified Tuesday as the man discovered dead at his home in the 900-block of Ash Street Sunday evening, following numerous 911 calls about a heated altercation in the White Rock neighbourhood.
Jeffrey Caille, 22 – who was remanded and appeared in Surrey Provincial Court Tuesday and Wednesday – is charged with one count of second-degree murder, one count of assault causing bodily harm and two counts of assault.
Ridout, a longtime Peninsula resident who was in Semiahmoo Secondary’s class of ’70, is being remembered by family and friends, some of whom have posted tributes to him on social media calling his actions that day heroic.
Police have not released any details regarding cause of death, but witnesses say Ridout was stabbed while coming to the defence of a woman.
Former Peace Arch News reporter Jim Mullin noted that Ridout was a gentle man who was his neighbour for 35 years.
“(He was) highly intelligent, but painfully introverted,” Mullin told PAN. “(He) came out of his shell over the last 10 years and started to travel the world and really enjoy life.
“When we moved, he would go visit my grandmother at the nursing home once a week. That was the kind of guy he was.”
Another acquaintance remembers Ridout as a generous man who would often open his home to people in need.
Two unidentified women were injured during the incident, with witnesses seeing a man attacking a woman on the street outside the residence and, later, knives and other objects being thrown off the balcony.
According to neighbours, the man was smashing the young woman’s head on the pavement before a young woman with her dog yelled at the man and attempted to intervene. The passerby was threatened and allegedly had a knife thrown at her before calling 911.
The attacker went inside the house where Ridout resided and was throwing knives and other objects off the balcony, a police news release states.
When another neighbour went inside to try and subdue the suspect, he discovered Ridout’s body and ran out of the house asking for assistance from someone who knew CPR, neighbours told PAN.
The young woman who tried to stop the initial altercation ran in and tried to assist Ridout, but was unable to.
An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, but results and cause of death have yet to be made public.
Anyone with information who has not yet spoken to police is asked to contact IHIT at 1877-551-4448 or, to remain anonymous, to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
– with files from Alex Browne
