Two men, including a priest, were injured after a 27-year-old man stabbed them with a screwdriver inside a gurdwara in Canada’s Edmonton, with police investigating whether the attack was hate-motivated, authorities said.
He had been released from a federal prison in Alberta the day before the attack, and failed to report to his designated halfway house in Edmonton, officials said. “No one should ever feel unsafe in their place of worship. The incident took place at Nanaksar Sikh Gurdwara in northeast Edmonton around 5 a.m. (local time) on Friday (August 21, 2026), police said, adding that the suspect entered the gurdwara and attempted to access the prayer area before he was confronted by the staff. The confrontation escalated and two men, aged 75 and 51, were stabbed, Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said in a statement on Friday (August 21, 2026). Police said the suspect had been seen walking in traffic on Highway 15 shortly before the stabbing, Global News reported. The suspect, who was known to police, has an extensive history of violent attacks dating back to 2015, police said.
Witnesses intervened and detained the suspect until police arrived and arrested him, it said. I want to thank the Edmonton Police Service for their swift response,” he said. “This level of violence has no place in our city,” he said, adding that police were taking the incident and the safety of Edmonton’s Sikh community seriously.
