Vancouver, British Columbia — A suspect was charged with murder on Sunday after a weekend car ramming attack killed 11 people aged 5 to 65 at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, a tragedy that shook Canada on the eve of a federal election.
The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second-degree murder and stated that additional charges were possible. Investigators ruled out terrorism and noted that Lo had a history of mental health issues.
Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court and is still in custody, according to prosecutors. An attorney for Lo was not listed in online court documents, and The Associated Press was unable to contact one right away.
A man driving a black Audi SUV entered the street shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday and collided with people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, injuring dozens of people, some critically. He was arrested on the scene. By Sunday evening, authorities had not released the victims’ names.
“It is the darkest day in Vancouver’s history,” Police Interim Chief Steve Rai stated at a news conference.
“The person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health,” he informed me.
A video of the aftermath shows the dead and injured on a narrow street in South Vancouver lined with food trucks. The front of the driver’s SUV has been smashed in.
Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle slowly pass through the barricade before the driver slammed on the gas in an area packed with people following a concert. He claimed that hearing the sounds of bodies colliding with the vehicle would stay with him forever.
“He sideswiped someone on his right side, and I was like, ‘Oh, yo.'” And then he slammed on the gas,” he explained. “And the sound of the acceleration is like an F1 car about to begin a race.
“He slammed on the gas and drove through the crowd. And all I remember is seeing bodies fly up in the air, higher than the food trucks, and land on the ground, with people yelling and screaming. It looked like a bowling ball was hitting bowling pins, and all of the pins were flying through the air.”
Pangilinan stated that it would be difficult to believe “that someone has malice against the Filipino people.”
Suspect was detained by bystanders before the police arrived
A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested on the scene. Rai claimed that the man was arrested after being apprehended by bystanders.
A video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, flanked by a security guard and bystanders screaming and swearing at him.
“I’m sorry,” the man says, placing his hand on his head.
Rai declined to comment on the video.
Prime Minister Mark Carney cancelled his first campaign event, as well as two major rallies, on the final day of the election campaign before Monday’s vote.
Last night, families lost a sister, brother, mother, father, son, or daughter. “Those families are experiencing every family’s nightmare,” Carney stated. “And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences.”
Carney planned to join British Columbia Premier David Eby and community leaders in Vancouver on Sunday evening.
In 2018, a man used a van to kill ten pedestrians in Toronto. Eight females and two males died. Alek Minassian, who was convicted, told police that he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom planned attacks on people who had sex.
Witnesses describe how they leaped out of the way
Carayn Nulada stated that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to protect them from the SUV. She claimed that her daughter had a narrow escape.
“The car hit her arm, and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described screaming children and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.
“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”
Nulada was in the emergency room at Vancouver General Hospital on Sunday morning, hoping to learn more about her brother, who was run down during the attack and suffered multiple broken bones.
Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle and stating that he was stable but would require surgery.
James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the celebration when he heard a car rev its engine followed by “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially mistook for a gunshot.
“We saw people crying on the road, while others were running, shouting, or screaming for help. So we went there to see what was going on, only to find some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, while others had been injured,” Cruzat explained.
Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the festival when he noticed police rushing in. People were crying, and he noticed bodies on the ground. “It was like something straight out of a horror movie or a nightmare,” he told me.
Adonis Quita stated that when he saw the SUV ramming through the crowd, his first reaction was to drag his 9-year-old son out. The boy kept saying, “I’m scared, I’m scared,” Quita remembered. Later, they prayed together.
His son had recently moved to Vancouver from the Philippines with his mother to reunite with Quita, who had been living here since 2024. Quita expressed concern that the child will struggle to adjust to life in Canada after witnessing the horrific event.
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim stated that the city had “suffered its darkest day.”
“I know many of us are scared and uneasy,” said the mayor. “I know it’s hard to feel this way right now, but Vancouver is still a safe city.”
Vancouver’s large Filipino population was honoring a national hero
According to Statistics Canada, the agency in charge of conducting the national census, Vancouver had over 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, accounting for 5.9% of the city’s total population.
Lapu Lapu Day commemorates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who resisted Spanish explorers who arrived in the Philippines in the sixteenth century.
The organizers of the second-year Vancouver event stated that he “represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization.”
Eby stated that the province will not let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to use their rage to help those who were affected.
“I don’t think there is a British Columbian that hasn’t been touched in some way by the Filipino community,” he told me. “You can’t go to a place that delivers without meeting a member of that community, whether it’s a long-term care home, a hospital, childcare, or a school. This is a community that continually gives, and yesterday was a celebration of their culture.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy for the victims and their families.
“The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and that the victims and their families are supported and consoled,” stated the diplomat.
The country’s Department of Foreign Affairs stated, “We remember the 1 million strong Filipino community in Canada and pray for their continued strength and resilience.”
Gillies reported from Toronto. This report was contributed to by Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Vancouver, as well as Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Utah.