Vancouver car attack death toll rises to 11, cops say driver had mental health history
The driver who allegedly ploughed his SUV into a Vancouver Filipino festival, killing at least 11 people aged between 5 and 65, has been named. Follow updates.
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At least 11 people are confirmed dead — the youngest aged just five — after a driver deliberately sped an SUV through revellers at a Vancouver block party, officials confirmed.
The suspect — identified as 30-year-old local man Kai-Ji Adam Lo — was “known” to law enforcement after a “significant” history with police interactions, and was also well known to healthcare professionals related to mental health,” interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai told reporters on Sunday.
Lo was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
No motive has been confirmed for the Saturday evening attack, though terrorism was ruled out.
Chief Rai also confirmed that the victims who were killed in the car ramming attacked ranged from five to 65 years old.
In addition to the dead, dozens more were injured after the attack at the celebration for Filipino Lapu Lapu Day, and police cautioned that more victims could succumb to their injuries
“The number of dead could rise in the coming days or weeks,” Rai said.
“This is the darkest day in our city’s history,” he added, according to CBC.
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR VICTIMS
A candlelight vigil has been held near the scene where a car drove into a crowd of people during the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver.
The Canadian PM Mark Carney was in attendance.
Police said a 30-year-old man drove his car into a crowd at a Filipino street festival, killing at least 11 people and injuring multiple others
BLACK EYED PEAS SINGER HAD JUST LEFT STAGE
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of Indigenous chief, who led his men to defeat Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.
Saturday’s event featured a parade, a film screening, dancing and a concert, with two members of the Black Eyed Peas featured on the lineup published by the organisers.
Black Eyed Peas singer apl.de.ap revealed that he left the stage just minutes before the car careered through the crowd.
The Philippines-born rapper, real name Allan Pineda Lindo, offered heartbroken condolences to the victims in a statement on Sunday.
“I had just finished performing and left the stage minutes before it happened,” he said on Instagram.
“It’s hard to describe the shock and the heaviness we feel,” he added.
Lindo included in his post a list of victim services and mental health crisis lines for anybody affected, and asked his fans to keep the victims and their families in mind.
“The one thing I have noticed – from the audience to the messages sent around, is the sense of community that wraps its loving arms around us. We love you all,” he said.
“Our hearts are broken for the victims, their families, and everyone affected by the tragedy.”
SUSPECT SAID SORRY
The suspect ploughed a black SUV into a crowd of hundreds at the Lapu Lapu Day party around 8pm — just as organisers were taking down barriers because the event had officially ended.
After the suspect’s vehicle came to a halt, he was held down by partygoers until police arrived.
The man, who has not yet been publicly identified, apologised to festival-goers as he was detained by the crowd until police arrived to arrest him, according to the New York Post.
Footage posted online and verified by Agence France-Presse shows the vehicle with a damaged hood parked on a street littered with debris, meters from first aid crews tending to people lying on the ground.
The man is believed to have made it onto the busy roadway after a few volunteers removed a barrier during clean-up of the festival.
“We are still working on how this was cordoned off and how this occurred with the vehicle,” Rai said.
‘LIKE SEEING A BOWLING BALL HIT’
Festival-goer Kris Pangilinan said he saw two volunteers moving a street barrier to allow cars onto the street as workers were breaking down the festival amenities, including food trucks, vendor stands and the stage.
Several vehicles were carefully guided through the narrow street, but the black SUV reportedly accelerated into the crowd.
“We realised what was happening and everybody started yelling,” Pangilinan told the CBC. “[He] just slammed the pedal down and rammed into hundreds of people. It was like seeing a bowling ball hit — all the bowling pins and all the pins flying up in the air.”
Pangilinan, a former journalist based in Toronto, described the aftermath as a war zone, adding seeing “countless” bodies on the ground.
‘NOT AN ACT OF TERRORISM’
The ramming shocked the country a day before a general election dominated by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products and his threat to annex his northern neighbour, long a key ally and trading partner.
“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” authorities said.
Festival security guard Jen Idaba-Castaneto told local news site Vancouver Is Awesome that she saw “bodies everywhere.”
“You don’t know who to help, here or there. It’s so shocking,” she said.
CANADA’S PM GIVES EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a brief address to the nation, teared up as he addressed the tragedy.
“Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter,” he said. “Those families are living every family’s nightmare.”
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos said in a statement he was “completely shattered to hear about the terrible incident.”
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he was “shocked and heartbroken” by the news in a post on X.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time,” Vancouver mayor Ken Sim posted on X.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families – and Vancouver’s Filipino community,” Jagmeet Singh, leader of the left-wing New Democratic Party said on X.
Britain’s King Charles III, Canada’s head of state, said on Sunday he was “profoundly saddened” by the deaths.
The deadly incident comes a year after Canadian Nathaniel Veltman was sentenced to life in prison for running down a Muslim family with his truck on the street in London, Ontario in 2021.
The ruling in Veltman’s case was the first in Canada to make a link between white supremacy and terrorism in a murder case.
– with AFP and the New York Post
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Originally published as Vancouver car attack death toll rises to 11, cops say driver had mental health history
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