At least 11 killed as vehicle drives through festival crowd in Vancouver, B.C.
At least 11 people were killed when a vehicle rammed into a crowd during a street festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday night, police said.
A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene. Police said he was the only suspect and said they were not treating the incident as an act of terrorism. The crowd had been attending a large festival for the Canadian city’s Filipino community.
“This is the darkest day in our city’s history,” Steve Rai, the acting chief of the Vancouver Police Department, said at a news conference Sunday morning.
Rai told reporters at a news briefing Sunday that a man drove into a crowd at a street festival celebrating the Filipino community shortly after 8 p.m.
The suspect was apprehended by bystanders, who called the police, Rai said.
Rai said the “evidence in this case does not lead us to believe this was an act of terrorism.” He also said the suspect has “a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health.”
Police did not identify the suspect by name because “charges have not yet been laid,” Rai said. He said it is “fair to say” that the suspect is a Vancouver resident. He remains in custody.
The Lapu Lapu Day block party in South Vancouver is an annual event hosted by the local Filipino community to celebrate the 1521 victory of an Indigenous leader over Spanish forces in the Philippines. Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend the festival throughout the day, Rai said. The festival was scheduled to wrap up at 8 p.m., but hundreds of people were still in the area when the incident occurred soon after that, he said.
Men, women and “young people” are among those killed, Rai said.
Dozens more are believed to be injured, some seriously, so the death toll may rise in the coming days or weeks, he said.
The event’s organizers said Sunday in a post on social media: “We are still finding the words to express the deep heartbreak brought on by this senseless tragedy. We are devastated for the families and victims.”
Photos from the scene showed a stationary black vehicle surrounded by bodies and a large number of police and other emergency responders. Rai said the attacker was in a black Audi SUV that he drove into an enclosed area and then through the crowd.
Bystander Kris Pangilinan told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that he saw “countless” bodies.
“This car slowly started to pick up speed, and then hit someone,” he said. The vehicle continued to hit people as it drove out of his view, Pangilinan said. “It just kept going and going and going. People were just screaming and trying to run away. It looked like we were in a war zone.”
A wooden barrier that had blocked access to the street was removed shortly before the incident, Pangilinan said. Crowds were pouring into the street after the performance by the festival’s headline act, Apl.de.ap, a founding member of the Black Eyed Peas.
The police said a 24-hour assistance center for victims and their families was established at the Douglas Park Community Center.
The metropolitan Vancouver area is home to a vibrant community of Filipino Canadians. According to the 2021 census, over 174,000 residents of British Columbia are of Filipino descent.
Prime Minister Mark Carney offered condolences. “I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening,” he wrote on X. He said authorities were monitoring the situation closely.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim wrote that he was “shocked and deeply saddened. … Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
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