Man arrested after incident at Filipino Lapu Lapu event, as police say they are confident it was not terrorism
Nine people were killed and others injured when a driver ploughed a car into a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver on Saturday evening.
Police said they were confident the incident was not an act of terrorism. A 30-year-old man who had been driving a black SUV was arrested.
“We can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd … Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident, Vancouver police posted online.
The festival, held on a balmy spring day, drew nearly 100,000 people, many of whom were families with young children. Lapu Lapu Day is named after chief Lapulapu an Indigenous resistance fighter in the Philippines, who led his men to defeat the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521. Saturday’s festival was the second annual event for the city and organisers advertised a street parade, artisans, cultural activities, a giant basketball tournament and local food vendors. The six-time Grammy-winning musical group Black Eyed Peas headlined a concert event.
Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, paused general election campaigning to address the country on Sunday morning.
“Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” said a visibly emotional Carney. “I know that I join all Canadians in mourning with you. I know that Canadians are united with you.” Carney referenced “Bayanihan,” the Filipino value of community serving those in need. “This spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time. We will comfort the grieving. We will care for each other. We will unite in common purpose.”
Carney said he had been briefed by national security officials who believed the attacker acted alone and that there was no active threat to the public.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the Filipino president, said he was “completely shattered” by the incident and said his government conveyed the “deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the strong and thriving Filipino community in Canada”.
The incident happened shortly after 8pm local time. A photo posted to X half an hour before showed a busy street with young people looking at the wares of rows of food truck vendors.
Footage posted online showed a black SUV with a damaged bonnet parked on a street littered with debris as first-aiders tended to people lying on the ground.
One witness told CTV News he saw a vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was hit. The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people had been in the area.
“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev,” said Yoseb Vardeh, a food truck operator, in an interview with Postmedia. “I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere. He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”
Kris Pangilinan, a Toronto-based journalist attending the festival, told CBC news [the driver] 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.”
“It was like a war zone … There were bodies all over the ground,” he said.
Festival attenders held the suspect until police could arrive. Police said man was known to them “in certain circumstances”.
Video circulating on social media showed a young man in a hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. “I’m sorry,” the man said, holding his hand to his head.
Police set up a 24-hour assistance centre to help anyone who had been unable to contact relatives or friends who were at the festival.
The Vancouver mayor, Ken Sim, said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
The incident happened shortly before Canadians go to the polls on Monday after a frenetic election race where candidates have wooed voters on issues including rising living costs and tackling Donald Trump’s tariffs. Carney is favoured to win after promising voters he would stand up to Washington’s sweeping import levies.
The New Democratic party (NDP) leader, Jagmeet Singh, had attended the festival to meet voters. He left about an hour before the incident.
“Having been at the Lapu Lapu festival, this is a festival with kids there and families there,” Singh said. “I don’t have the words to describe the pain that I’m feeling now at the lives that were lost … We don’t know the motives, we don’t know any of the details. But, ultimately, this is something that targeted the Filipino community and the Filipino community right now is reeling.”
The NDP cancelled four other events in the province schedule for Sunday. The Liberals cancelled event in Hamilton, Ontario, but Carney is still expected to travel to Vancouver later on Sunday to meet Sim and British Columbia’s premier, David Eby. The Conservatives added an event with the Filipino community in Mississauga, Ontario for Sunday.
King Charles said he and his wife were “profoundly saddened” by the attack and “send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonising time for so many in Canada”.
Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census.
Source: www.theguardian.com