Attack on Vancouver’s car: 11 people killed; Police exclude terrorism

Vancouver, British Columbia (AP) – accusations of murder were deposited against a suspect in a car attack which killed 11 people aged 5 to 65 at a Filitage Filitage Festival in Vancouver.

The British Columbia’s prosecution service accused Kai-ji Adam Lo, 30, of eight second-degree murder leaders and said other accusations were possible.

Police said the suspect had a history of mental health problems.

The man was arrested after a black Audi SUV entered the street just after 8 p.m. on Saturday and hit people who attended the Lapu Day festival.

Dozens of people were injured.

This is an update of news. The previous history of after follows below.

Vancouver, British Columbia (AP) – Vancouver police excluded terrorism in a car attack that killed 11 people aged 5 to 65 during a Filitage Filitage Festival in The Canadian CitySaying that the suspect has history of mental health problems.

Dozens of others were injured, some in a critical way, because the tragedy rocked the country before a federal election. Some of the injured were not immediately identified.

A man driving a black Audi SUV entered the street just after 8 p.m. on Saturday and hit people who attended the Lapu Day festival. A man from Vancouver was arrested.

“It’s the darkest day in Vancouver’s history,” said the acting chief of the police, Steve Rai at a press conference.

“The person we have in detention has important history of interactions with police and health professionals related to mental health,” he said.

The video of the consequences shows the dead and injured along a narrow street in the south of Vancouver bordered by food trucks. The front of the driver’s SUV is broken.

Kris Pangilinan, who brought her pop-up clothes and her lifestyle stand to the festival, saw the vehicle entering slowly in front of the barricade before the driver slammed on the gas in an area filled with people after a concert. He said that hearing the sounds of the bodies that strike the vehicle will never leave his mind.

“He failed someone on his right side and I said to myself:” Oh, Yo Yo “. And then he slammed the gas, “he said. “And the sound of acceleration, it looks like an F1 car about to start a race.

“He slammed the gas, crossed the crowd. And all that I can remember is to see the bodies flying in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people screaming and screaming. He looked like a bowling ball striking bowling pins and all the pins fly in the air.”

Pangilinan said it would be difficult to believe “that someone has a wickedness against the Philippine people”.

The suspect was arrested by passers -by before the police arrive

A 30 -year -old Vancouver man was arrested on the scene. Rai said that the man was arrested after being initially apprehended by passers -by.

The video circulating on social networks shows a young man in a black hooded sweatshirt with his back against a chain bond fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by passers -by by screaming and swearing it.

“I’m sorry,” said the man, holding his hand at his head.

Rai refused to comment on the video.

Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the last day of the electoral campaign before the vote on Monday.

“Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter. These families live the nightmare of each family, ”said Carney. “And for them and to the many others injured, to the Canadian Philippine community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my biggest condolences.”

Carney planned to join the British Prime Minister of British Columbia David Eby and community leaders on Sunday evening in Vancouver.

In 2018, a man used a van to Kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told the police that he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom had drawn attacks against people who have sex.

Witnesses describe how they jumped back

Carayn Nulada said that she had pulled her granddaughter and her grandson from the street and had used her body to protect them from the SUV. She said her daughter had undergone a narrow escape.

“The car struck her arm and she fell, but she got up, to get us, because she is afraid,” said Nulada, who described screaming children and victims with a pale face lying on the ground or stuck under vehicles.

“I saw people running and my daughter was trembling.”

Nulada was in the emergency room of the Vancouver General Hospital on Sunday morning, trying to find news on her brother, who was dilapidated in the attack and suffered several broken bones.

The doctors identified it by presenting the family with their wedding ring in a bottle of pills and said that it was stable, but that it would be operated on.

James Cruzat, owner of a Vancouver company, was celebrating and heard a car on its engine, then “a loud noise, like a strong blow” that he initially thought was a shot.

“We saw people on the crying road, others were like running, shouting or even shouting, asking for help. So we tried to go just to check what was really going on until we find bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, wounded,” said Cruzat.

Vincent Reynon, 17, left the festival when he saw the police rush. People were crying and he saw bodies on the ground. “It was like something straight out of a horror film or a nightmare,” he said.

Adonis Quita said that when he had seen the SUV unravel through the crowd, his first reaction was to drag his 9 -year -old son outside the region. The boy did not stop saying, “I’m afraid, I’m afraid,” recalls Quita. Later, they prayed together. His son had just moved to Vancouver of the Philippines with her mother to find Quita, who has lived here since 2024. Quita said that he worries that the child would find it difficult to adapt to life in Canada after witnessing the horrible event.

The mayor of Vancouver, Kenneth Sim, said that the city had “suffered its darkest day”.

“I know that many of us are afraid and feel uncomfortable,” said the mayor. “I know it’s hard to feel this right now, but Vancouver is still a safe city.”

The large Philippine population of Vancouver honored a national hero

Vancouver had more than 38,600 inhabitants of the Philippin heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the total population of the city, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that leads the national census.

Lapu Day famous Datu Lapu-Lapu, an native chief who resisted the Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century. The organizers of the Vancouver event – which was in its second year – said that it “represents the soul of the indigenous resistance, a powerful force which helped shape the Philippine identity in the face of colonization”.

Eby said the province would not let tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to channel their rage to help people affected.

“I don’t think there is a British Columbian who was not touched in one way or another by the Philippine community,” he said. “You cannot go to a place that delivers and not meet a member of this community in the long -term care house or hospitals, childcare services or schools. It is a community that gives and gives and yesterday was a celebration of their culture. ”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. published a statement expressing his sympathy with the victims and their families.

“The Consulate General of the Philippines in Vancouver works with the Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident will make an in-depth investigation and that the victims and their families are supported and consoled,” he said.

The country’s Foreign Department said that “we remember the strong Filipino strong community in Canada and pray for their strength and their continuous resilience”.

___

Gillies reported in Toronto. The journalists of the Associated Press Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Vancouver and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Utah, contributed to this report.