What we know about the Vancouver car attack

3 hours ago

Bernd Debusmann Jr

BBC News, Washington

Watch: Vancouver mayor tells BBC that Canada faces mental health crisis

Eleven people were killed after a suspected car-ramming attack in the Canadian city of Vancouver on Saturday.

The incident, which took place at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, also left dozens of people injured.

The suspect was identified as Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30. He is in custody and faces several murder charges.

What happened?

The attack took place at approximately 20:14 local time on Saturday (03:14 GMT on Sunday) at an event marking Lapu Lapu Day, which is celebrated every year on 27 April.

Police later said that tens of thousands of people had been in attendance.

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Festival-goers said a single vehicle was involved in the attack, which took place on East 43rd Avenue and Fraser in the south of Vancouver.

"There's a car that went just through the whole street and just hitting everyone," eyewitness Abigail Andiso told the Associated Press news agency.

"I saw one dead, one man on the ground, and I went... towards the end where the car went, then there are more casualties, and you can see straight away there are about... maybe 20 people down, and everyone is panicking, everyone is screaming."

Other witnesses reported that some of the pedestrians who were struck were close to where food trucks were parked.

The driver of the vehicle was apprehended by bystanders and taken into custody by police officers.

Reuters A man putting flowers on a fence

What is the Lapu Lapu festival?

The Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver, and similar festivals in the Philippines and around the world, take place every year to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonisation in the 1500s.

Also known as Lapulapu, Lapu Lapu was an indigenous chief of Mactan, an island in the Philippines.

In 1521, he and his men defeated Spanish forces led by Ferdinand Magellan and some of his native allies at the battle of Mactan, delaying Spanish occupation of the region for over 40 years.

He is considered a hero in the modern-day Philippines, and monuments in his honour are common around the country.

Several Filipino government organisations - such as the national police service - use his image on their seals.

Lapu Lapu Day was officially recognised by the government of British Columbia in 2023. Filipinos form one of the largest immigrant groups in the province.

Who were the victims?

Nine females and two males, they ranged in age from a five-year-old girl to a 65-year-old man. More than two dozen others were injured, according to police.

The victims have not been officially named, but their identifies have been shared online by family and colleagues.

Among them are three members of the Le family.

Katie Le, five, was the youngest person to die in the attack. She was killed along with her father, Richard Le, 47, and mother Linh Hoang, 30.

Her 16-year-old brother, who stayed home from the festival to do homework, is the family's sole survivor, a relative wrote on a GoFundMe page.

"This event was meant to be a joyful community gathering, celebrating unity and the strength of a connected people," wrote Richard Le's brother, Toan Le.

Katie was about to graduate from kindergarten, and was "vibrant, joyful, and full of life".

Toan Le remembered his brother Richard Le as "a dedicated father, badminton and tennis coach, and real estate professional".

Kira Salim, a teacher and counsellor at Fraser River Middle School and New Westminster Secondary School, was also among those killed.

Three members of a family originally from Colombia were killed in the attack, according to the Vancouver Sun.

Glitza Daniela Samper, Daniel Samper and their daughter Glitza Maria Caicedo were killed, the paper reported.

A 'joyful' pre-schooler and her parents among victims of Vancouver attack

Who is the suspect?

Police have named the suspect as Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, and have charged him with eight counts of second-degree murder.

"The charge assessment is ongoing and further charges are anticipated," police said in a statement.

While investigators have not confirmed a motive, acting Vancouver police chief Steve Rai said police are confident "that the evidence in this case does not lead us to believe this was an act of terrorism".

The suspect, he added, has "a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health".

Vancouver's mayor, Ken Sim, similarly said that "mental health appears to be the underlying issue here".

On Tuesday, the provincial health ministry said Lo had been under the care of their mental health team before the attack, but he gave "no indication of violence".

Rai said there had not been any interaction with officers in the "immediate" lead-up to the attack.