Suspect charged with murder in Vancouver street festival car attack that killed 11

VANCOUVER — Murder charges were filed Sunday against a suspect in a weekend car-ramming attack that killed 11 people ranging in age from 5 to 65 at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, a tragedy that shook Canada on the eve of federal elections.

The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second-degree murder and said more charges were possible. Investigators ruled out terrorism and said Lo had a history of mental health issues.

The Vancouver resident appeared in court and remains in custody, prosecutors said. An attorney for Lo wasn’t listed in online court documents, and the Associated Press wasn’t immediately able to reach a lawyer representing him.

Dozens of people were injured, some critically, when a man driving a black Audi SUV entered the South Vancouver street just after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival. He was arrested at the scene. Authorities had not released victims’ names by Sunday evening.

“It is the darkest day in Vancouver’s history,” Vancouver interim Police Chief Steve Rai said at a news conference. “The person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health.”

Video of the aftermath shows the dead and injured along a narrow street lined with food trucks. The front of the driver’s SUV is smashed in.

Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle enter slowly past the barricade before the driver accelerated in an area that was packed with people after a concert. He said hearing the sounds of bodies hitting the vehicle will never leave his mind.

“He sideswiped someone on his right side, and I was like, ‘Oh, yo, yo.’ And then he slammed on the gas,” he said. “And the sound of the acceleration, it sounds like an F1 car about to start a race.

“He slammed on the gas, barreled through the crowd. And all I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming. It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.”

Bystanders held suspect as police arrived

A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene. Rai said the man was taken into custody after initially being apprehended by bystanders.

Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard, surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.

“I’m sorry,” the man says, holding his hand to his head.

Rai declined to comment on the video.

Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the final day of campaigning before Monday’s elections.

“Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” the prime minister said, fighting back tears. “And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences.”

In 2018, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto.

People running, children screaming

Carayn Nulada said she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the SUV. She said her daughter narrowly escaped.

“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.

“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking,” she said.

Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency room early Sunday morning, trying to find out news about her brother, who was struck in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones.

Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle, and said that he was stable but would require surgery.

James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the event and heard a car rev its engine and then “a loud noise, like a loud bang,” which he initially thought might be 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 said.

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

Adonis Quita said when he saw the SUV ramming the crowd, his first reaction was to drag his 9-year-old son out of the area. The boy kept saying, “I’m scared, I’m scared,” Quita recalled. Later they prayed together.

His son had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines with his mother to reunite with Quita, who has lived here since 2024. Quita said he worries the child will struggle to adjust to life in Canada after witnessing the horrific event.

Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said in a social media post that the city would provide more information when possible.

“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event,” Sim said. “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”

Honoring a Filipino hero

Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census.

Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to 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 he “represents the soul of Native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization.”

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

“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 said.

The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department said that “we remember the 1 million strong Filipino community in Canada and pray for their continued strength and resilience.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Canadians won’t let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to channel their rage into helping those affected.

“I don’t think there is a British Columbian that hasn’t been touched in some way by the Filipino community,” he said. “You can’t go to a place that delivers and not meet a member of that community in the long-term care home or hospitals, child care or schools.

“This is a community that gives and gives, and yesterday was a celebration of their culture.”