A man has been charged with multiple counts of murder after allegedly killing 11 people when he rammed into a crowd at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, witnesses said.
Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in a video appearance before a judge on Sunday, just hours after being arrested at the scene, according to Damienne Darby, a spokesperson for British Columbia prosecutors.
Investigators ruled out terrorism as a motive and said additional charges were possible. They claimed Lo had a history of mental health issues. He has yet to enter a plea.
Lo’s attorney was not listed in online court documents, and The Associated Press was unable to contact him immediately.
Officials said those killed ranged in age from 5 to 65. A black Audi SUV sped down a closed street shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday and collided with people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, injuring approximately two dozen people.
As of Monday afternoon, seven people remained in critical condition, with three in serious condition, according to police. Authorities have not released the names of the victims, but nine of the 11 killed were women and two were men.
“We will never be normal again,” Sgt. Steve Addison said during a news conference Monday afternoon.
Addison stated that all of the victims lived in the metro Vancouver area, with the exception of one whose address police were unable to verify.
The sergeant added that authorities are working to secure the Vancouver Marathon, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday.
“We will host FIFA next year, and we have previously hosted the Olympics. “We know how to host safely; what happened this weekend was predictable,” Addison explained.
Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter brought flowers to one of the vigils. They had been to the festival on Saturday, and Nairn described seeing the damaged SUV and bodies on the ground.
“Something really dark happened last night,” Nairn explained as she and her daughter wiped away tears.
Emily Daniels also delivered a bouquet. “It is sad. “Very sad,” she said. “I can’t believe something like this could happen so close to home.”
Steve Rai, interim chief of police, described it as “the darkest day in Vancouver’s history.” Although there was no indication of a motive, Rai stated that the suspect has “a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health.”
A video of the aftermath showed the dead and injured on a narrow street in South Vancouver lined with food trucks. The front of the Audi SUV had been smashed in.
Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle slowly drive past a barricade before accelerating in an area crowded with people after a concert. He stated that the sounds of people screaming and bodies colliding with the vehicle will never leave his mind.
“He slammed on the gas, barreled through the crowd,” Pangilinan said. “It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.”
On Monday, police urged witnesses to submit any video footage of the incident to assist with their investigation.
Suspect detained by bystanders before police arrived
Rai stated that the suspect was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders.
A video circulating on social media showed 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 said, 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.”
On Sunday evening, Carney met with British Columbia Premier David Eby and community leaders in Vancouver.
“In this incredibly difficult moment, we will comfort the grieving, care for one another, and be united in a common purpose,” Carney wrote on X, alongside a photo of himself lighting a candle at a makeshift memorial near the scene of the attack.
The tragedy recalled an attack in Toronto in 2018, in which a man used a van to kill ten pedestrians.
Witnesses describe how they leaped out of the way
Eyewitness Dale Selipe told the Vancouver Sun that she saw injured children on the street after the vehicle collided with the crowd.
“There was a lady with her eyes staring up, and one of her legs was already broken. “One person was holding her hand and comforting her,” Selipe told the newspaper.
Jen Idaba-Castaneto, a festival security guard, told a local news website that she saw bodies everywhere.
“When I heard people screaming, I dashed out to see what had happened, and I found lifeless bodies on the street. The first people I saw died on the spot. “Many others were injured or killed,” she explained.
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 informed me.
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 scattered bodies.
“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 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 Philippine government is working with local police to gather more information about the victims and the investigation, and the Vancouver consulate has set up a hotline for families, presidential palace press officer Claire Castro told reporters in Manila on Monday.