VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A person drove a car right into a crowd at a Filipino heritage competition within the Canadian metropolis of Vancouver, killing no less than 9 folks and injuring an unknown variety of others, police mentioned Sunday.
The car entered the road at 8:14 p.m. on Saturday and struck folks attending the Lapu Lapu Day competition, the Vancouver Police Division mentioned in a social media submit.
A number of different folks have been injured, however the precise variety of casualties wasn’t instantly accessible. Video of the aftermath exhibits the lifeless and injured alongside a slender avenue in South Vancouver lined by meals vehicles. The entrance of the driving force’s SUV is smashed in.
A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested on the scene and the division’s Main Crime Part is overseeing the investigation, police mentioned.
“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” the police division posted early Sunday.
Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai advised a information convention that the person was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders.
Video circulating on social media exhibits a younger man in a black hoodie together with his again in opposition to a chain-link fence, alongside a safety guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.
“I’m sorry,” the person says, holding his hand to his head.
Rai declined to touch upon the video, however mentioned the individual in custody was a “lone male” who was “known to police in certain circumstances.”
Carayn Nulada mentioned that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the road and used her physique to protect them from the SUV. She mentioned that her daughter suffered a slender escape.
“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” mentioned Nulada, who described youngsters screaming, and pale-faced victims mendacity on the bottom or wedged underneath automobiles.
“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”
Nulada was in Vancouver Basic Hospital’s emergency room early Sunday morning, looking for information about her brother, who was run down within the assault and suffered a number of damaged bones.
Docs recognized him by presenting the household together with his marriage ceremony ring in a tablet bottle and mentioned that he was steady, however could be going through surgical procedure.
James Cruzat, a Vancouver enterprise proprietor, was on the occasion and heard a automobile rev its engine after which “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought is perhaps a gunshot.
“We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured,” Cruzat mentioned.
Nic Magtajas described an SUV roaring by the gang at excessive pace.
“I saw a bunch of people go over, go high up from the impact of hitting the car,” mentioned Magtajas, 19.
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim mentioned in a social media submit that town would supply extra info when doable.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event,” Sim mentioned. “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
Vancouver had greater than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of town’s whole inhabitants, in keeping with Statistics Canada, the company that conducts the nationwide census.
Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood as much as Spanish explorers who got here to the Philippines within the sixteenth century. The organizers of the Vancouver occasion mentioned that he “represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney and different political leaders on the ultimate day of the election marketing campaign posted messages expressing shock on the violence, condolences for victims and assist for the neighborhood celebrating its heritage.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you,” Carney wrote.
Carney delayed his marketing campaign occasions.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a press release expressing sympathy with the victims and their households.
“The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and that the victims and their families are supported and consoled,” he mentioned.
The nation’s Division of International Affairs mentioned that “we remember the 1 million strong Filipino community in Canada and pray for their continued strength and resilience.”
In 2018, a person used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight ladies and two males died. Alek Minassian, who was discovered responsible, advised police that he belonged to an internet neighborhood of sexually pissed off males, a few of whom have plotted assaults on individuals who have intercourse.
Initially Revealed:
