THE LATEST:
Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, was charged Sunday with eight counts of second-degree murder in relation to the crash at the Lapu Lapu Festival on Saturday.
The youngest of the eleven people killed was five years old. Dozens more people were injured when an SUV rammed into a crowd at the event.
Vancouver police are defending their safety preparations for the festival, saying they had no indication of any threats beforehand.
Officials say they are not investigating the attack as an act of terrorism, and the suspect has had previous interactions with police and mental health workers.
Organizers of the event say they’re receiving support from around the world, and the Filipino community would “show true resilience” in the face of the tragedy.
Here’s CBC’s live page.
Police say a Vancouver man has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder after an SUV was driven into a crowd at a Filipino community festival Saturday evening, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more.
Police say they weren’t aware beforehand of specific threats against the Lapu Lapu Day festival, which is named after an Indigenous resistance fighter in the Philippines who fought against Spanish colonization in the 16th century.
According to police, the crash happened on East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street just before 8 p.m. PT on Saturday, and is not being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Police say the 11 people killed range in age from five to 65 years old.
On Sunday afternoon, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in relation to the crash, according to police.
Second-degree murder is generally defined in Canada as an intentional killing that wasn’t planned in advance.
Lo appeared very briefly in court for a bail hearing Sunday afternoon, wearing grey sweats. He did not request bail and will remain in custody until his next appearance, scheduled for May 26 in Vancouver provincial court.
A publication ban prevents other details from being reported. When such bans are in place, journalists can only report three main things: the fact that a bail hearing took place, whether or not the accused was granted bail and whether there are any conditions to their release.
In a statement, the Vancouver Police Department said the charge assessment was ongoing and further charges are anticipated.
‘I started seeing bodies and injured people’: eyewitness to Vancouver ramming
At a news conference Sunday morning, interim Vancouver police chief Steve Rai called it the “darkest day in the city’s history.”
“It is hard to make sense of something so senseless, and I know there are questions about whether this tragedy could have been prevented,” Rai said.
In a later news conference held with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, Rai defended the police department’s preparations for the festival, saying that a risk assessment had determined that dedicated officers and heavy police vehicles were not necessary.
“Last year … there was zero interactions with police at this festival,” Rai told reporters. “It was a family-friendly cultural celebration involving kids, and we wanted to maintain that based on that information and that threat assessment.
“We don’t want to cage everybody up at every event in the City of Vancouver.”
Vancouver car-ramming ‘darkest day in our city’s history,’ says interim police chief
Sim told the news conference that the suspect in the case had a long history of mental health-related interactions with first responders, and that more had to be done to address the root causes of mental health disorders.
Rai repeatedly defended the department’s decision not to block the road with barricades. There were no heavy barriers deployed at the scene, according to police, as the event was primarily held within the school itself.
The acting police chief added that the crash happened behind the site of the festival at John Oliver Secondary School, on a street lined with food trucks, as the festival was winding down.
Vancouver suspect’s history suggests car-ramming not terrorism, police say
Rai said they will now be working with the city “to review all of the circumstances surrounding the planning of this event.”
“The system had worked up to this point — but this will be a watershed moment for city operations, police, ambulance, and all stakeholders,” he said during the morning news conference.
In response to questions from reporters, Rai said the crash was not being investigated as an act of terrorism, as police do not believe there was religious or political ideology behind it.
The Lapu Lapu Day festival was organized by the Filipino B.C. group. On Sunday, chair RJ Aquino said the community was receiving support from around the world.
“It’s not lost on us … that the spirit of the festival was about that resistance, resilience, that courage, that strength,” he told a news conference.
“And you know, we’re going to have to call that up in ourselves.”
‘The community will feel this for a long time,’ says Filipino festival organizer after tragedy
Aquino said organizers of the event would share details on how to send monetary support to those affected in due course — but asked for grieving families’ privacy to be respected.
At a prayer vigil packed with people at St. Mary the Virgin South Hill Church at Fraser Street and 49th Avenue, just blocks from the site of the crash, Father Expedito Farinas called the incident “heartbreaking beyond words.”
“We will support each other through this unbearable pain and continue to include them in our prayers,” he told the congregation, most of whom are of Filipino descent, and those in attendance.
At the site of the crash in Vancouver’s Sunset neighbourhood, even as officers continued to gather evidence, residents arrived to place tributes and honour those who died.
“I just feel a lot of sorrow and sadness for all the families, it’s very tough,” said resident Paul Xiong, whose family was at the festival just hours before the tragedy.
“It could have been us in this situation, too,” he said.
Condolences have poured in from across the political spectrum — including from the leaders of the main federal political parties.
Federal leaders react to deadly car-ramming incident at Vancouver festival
B.C. Premier David Eby was among those who spoke at the vigil at the church, saying that in his experience, the Filipino community had only ever been about love and family.
“We’re here today. We all stand together with the Filipino community today. And I know that’s actually the case around the world,” he said.
Eby said the province would work with the City of Vancouver and police on event security going forward, promising that they would get the resources and information they need to ensure safe celebrations.
B.C. premier ‘sick’ over deadly car-ramming at Filipino festival
“This individual intentionally drove a vehicle into a crowd of people,” the premier said on Sunday afternoon. “What we don’t know is why, and I’m counting on police, I’m counting on our justice system, to get the answers that we need.”
A 24-hour assistance centre has been set up at the nearby Douglas Park Community Centre to help those affected.
Statistics Canada says more than 174,000 people of Filipino descent represent 3.5 per cent of the province’s total population, and they’re the third-largest cultural group in B.C. behind those of South Asian and Chinese ancestry.
