Eleven people were killed and at least 20 more hurt in a car-ramming attack on a Filipino festival in Vancouver, police said Sunday.
A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene of the Lapu Lapu Day festival after the Saturday night attack, authorities said. The street party in south Vancouver honors an indigenous Filipino chief.
“This is the darkest day in our city’s history,” Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said Sunday at a press conference. “There are many unanswered questions about why this horrific crime happened.”
The suspect had a “significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health,” Rai said. He acted alone, according to investigators.
“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” Vancouver police wrote on social media.
Rai said he could not release the suspect’s name until criminal charges were filed. The case was working through the Canadian legal system on Sunday and the suspect remained in custody.
The victims have not been publicly identified but included “young people,” Rai said.
The day-long street festival was winding down at the time of the 8:14 p.m. attack, the CBC reported. The party’s main act, a musical performance by Filipino-American and Black-Eyed Peas member Apl.de.ap, had concluded.
AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson
Sarah Edmilao, a member of the Filipino community who says friends had attended earlier in the day, places flowers at a growing memorial near a site the day after a driver killed multiple people during a Filipino festival Sunday in Vancouver. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Cops had lifted a barricade blocking the street to allow cars through, journalist and party attendee Kris Pangilinan told the CBC. While some cars continued cautiously through the crowd, one suddenly sped up and plowed into the mass of people.
“[The driver] just slammed the pedal down and rammed into hundreds of people,” Pangilinan said. “It was like seeing a bowling ball hit — all the bowling pins and all the pins flying up in the air.”
Witnesses described the scene as something out of a war zone, with bodies strewn on the crowd and people shouting in hysterics. A group of bystanders held the driver against a fence until police arrived and hauled him away.
“Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “Those families are living every family’s nightmare.”
Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP
Debris is seen on 43rd Avenue in Vancouver, where a vehicle drove into crowd at a street festival the night before, on Sunday morning. (Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP)
Vancouver has a significant Filipino population, with nearly 6% of the city’s residents having Filipino heritage. Saturday’s festival honored Lapu Lapu, an indigenous Filipino chief whose forces killed Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521. Saturday was the second annual festival in Vancouver.
Car attacks have become an increasingly effective weapon for mass murder in North America. In 2018, a young man killed 10 people by driving into a crowd in Toronto, injuring 15 more people. The driver, Alek Minassian, was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
And on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, 14 people were killed and 57 more injured when a man drove into a crowd partying on Bourbon Street. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas man, has been charged in the attack.
With News Wire Services
Originally Published: