Kathiye Elmi shows his wounds during a news conference in Vancouver on Monday.Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press
A Vancouver man slashed in the head outside a church in an attack that led to a suspect being shot dead by police says he is having nightmares and is not getting enough support.
Kathiye Elmi, 40, lifts his hat to reveal stitches on his head and recalls the violent scuffle.
"He came after me. And then I faced him. I don't want him to stab me in the back," Mr. Elmi told reporters on Monday. "Everybody screamed, 'Watch out the knife!'"
Police have said a man was wildly stabbing people two weeks ago outside the First United Church in the city's impoverished Downtown Eastside.
Officers first shot him with bean bags, but he turned his knife on a woman.
An officer then fired his gun. Abdi Hirsi, 26, of Edmonton died at the scene.
The woman was seriously injured in the attack, but is now out of hospital. Two others were also wounded.
Mr. Elmi said as many as five police officers interviewed him after the attack, but he has not been helped by victims' services.
"I'm speaking out, [because] I thought I'm living in a safe country – a place I came to have a good life, not to get stabbed," said Mr. Elmi, who immigrated from Mogadishu 22 years ago.
"I need more protection and I need a life."
Jean Hakizimana, who founded the black advocacy group Neighbourhood Care International, said he has reached out to city and provincial officials on Mr. Elmi's behalf, but has not received support. He did not specify whom he had contacted.
He alleged that language barriers, skin colour and poverty are hurdles in getting Mr. Elmi adequate care.
"We are looking for an office or a place … [where] a black man and African man can go and cry," Mr. Hakizimana said. "It's not very easy to be a black man in Vancouver. Especially when you have don't have a job, a family."
Mr. Elmi has a criminal record for assault and theft. He said he was fighting in self-defence and stole a keg of beer.
A Vancouver police spokesman would not comment about a victim of any crime. But Sgt. Randy Fincham said a person's race and background would not be factors.
"They would be treated first and foremost as a victim," he said in an e-mail.
The Vancouver police victims' services website says officers at the scene of a crime typically refer people to victims' support, but an individual can also call.
A spokesman for the province's justice ministry said it would not publicly discuss any case for privacy reasons.