By JIM MORRIS, CLAIRE RUSH and ROB GILLIES
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Homicide prices had been filed Sunday in opposition to a suspect in a weekend automotive ramming assault that killed 11 individuals between the ages of 5 and 65 at a Filipino heritage pageant within the metropolis of Vancouver, a tragedy that shook Canada on the eve of a federal election.
The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second diploma homicide and stated extra prices had been doable. Investigators dominated out terrorism and stated Lo had a historical past of psychological well being points.
Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court docket and stays in custody, prosecutors stated. An legal professional for Lo wasn’t listed in on-line court docket paperwork and The Related Press wasn’t instantly in a position to attain an legal professional representing him.
Dozens of individuals had been injured, some critically, when a person driving a black Audi SUV entered the road simply after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck individuals attending the Lapu Lapu Day pageant. He was arrested on the scene. Authorities had not launched victims’ names by Sunday night.
“It’s the darkest day in Vancouver’s historical past,” Police Interim Chief Steve Rai advised a information convention.
“The particular person we’ve got in custody does have a major historical past of interactions with police and well being care professionals associated to psychological well being,” he stated.
Lots of of individuals gathered Sunday night for a vigil honoring the victims. “It’s unhappy. Actually unhappy,” stated Emily Daniels, who introduced a bouquet. “I can’t imagine one thing like this might occur so near house.”
Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter additionally carried flowers. They’d attended the pageant on Saturday, and Nairn recounted seeing the broken SUV and our bodies on the bottom.
“One thing actually darkish occurred final night time,” she stated, as she and her daughter wiped away tears.
Video of the aftermath exhibits the useless and injured alongside a slender avenue in South Vancouver lined by meals vans. The entrance of the motive force’s SUV is smashed in.
Kris Pangilinan, who introduced his pop-up clothes and life-style sales space to the pageant, noticed the car enter previous the barricade slowly earlier than the motive force slammed on the gasoline in an space that was full of individuals after a live performance. He stated listening to the sounds of our bodies hitting the car won’t ever depart his thoughts.
“He slammed on the gasoline, barreled by the group,” he stated. “And all I can keep in mind is seeing our bodies flying up within the air increased than the meals vans themselves and touchdown on the bottom and other people yelling and screaming. It appeared like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all of the pins are flying into the air.”
Pangilinan stated that it might be laborious to imagine “that somebody has some malice in opposition to the Filipino individuals.”
Suspect was detained by bystanders earlier than the police arrived
Rai stated the suspect 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.
Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first marketing campaign occasion and two main rallies on the ultimate day of the election marketing campaign earlier than Monday’s vote.
“Final night time households misplaced a sister, a brother, a mom, father, son or a daughter. These households live each household’s nightmare,” Carney stated. “And to them and to the various others who had been injured, to the Filipino Canadian group, and to everybody in Vancouver, I wish to supply my deepest condolences.”
Carney deliberate to hitch British Columbia Premier David Eby and group leaders Sunday night in Vancouver.
In 2018, a person used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight girls and two males died. Alek Minassian, who was discovered responsible, advised police that he belonged to a web based group of sexually pissed off males, a few of whom have plotted assaults on individuals who have intercourse.
Witnesses describe how they leaped out of the best way
Carayn Nulada stated that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the road and used her physique to defend them from the SUV. She stated that her daughter suffered a slender escape.
“The automotive hit her arm and she or he fell down, however she acquired up, searching for us, as a result of she is scared,” stated Nulada, who described youngsters screaming, and pale-faced victims mendacity on the bottom or wedged underneath automobiles.
“I noticed individuals working and my daughter was shaking.”
Nulada was in Vancouver Basic Hospital’s emergency room 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 wedding ceremony ring in a tablet bottle and stated that he was steady, however could be dealing with surgical procedure.
James Cruzat, a Vancouver enterprise proprietor, was on the celebration and heard a automotive rev its engine after which “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought could be a gunshot.
“We noticed individuals on the highway crying, others had been like working, shouting, and even screaming, asking for assist. So we tried to go there simply to test what was actually really occurring till we discovered some our bodies on the bottom. Others had been lifeless, others like, , injured,” Cruzat stated.
Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the pageant when he noticed police speeding in. Folks had been crying and he noticed our bodies on the bottom. “It was like one thing straight out of a horror film or a nightmare,” he stated.
Adonis Quita stated when he noticed the SUV ramming by the group, his first response was to tug his 9-year-old son out of the realm. The boy saved saying “I’m scared, I’m scared,” Quita recalled. Later they prayed collectively. His son had simply relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines together with his mom to reunite with Quita, who has lived right here since 2024. Quita stated he worries the kid will battle to regulate to life in Canada after witnessing the horrific occasion.
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim stated the town had “suffered its darkest day.”
“I do know many people are fearful and really feel uneasy,” stated the mayor. “I do know it’s laborious to really feel this fashion proper now, however Vancouver remains to be a protected metropolis.”
Vancouver’s giant Filipino inhabitants was honoring a nationwide hero
Vancouver had greater than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the town’s complete inhabitants, based on 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 — which was in its second yr — stated that he “represents the soul of native resistance, a strong power that helped form the Filipino identification within the face of colonization.”
Eby stated the province received’t let the tragedy outline the celebration. He urged individuals to channel their rage into serving to these affected.
“I don’t suppose there’s a British Columbian that hasn’t been touched ultimately by the Filipino group,” he stated. “You possibly can’t go to a spot that delivers and never meet a member of that group within the long-term care house or hospitals, childcare or faculties. It is a group that offers and provides and yesterday was a celebration of their tradition.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued an announcement expressing sympathy with the victims and their households.
“The Philippine Consulate Basic in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to make sure that the incident can be completely investigated, and that the victims and their households are supported and consoled,” he stated.
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Gillies reported from Toronto. Related Press journalists Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Vancouver and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, contributed to this report.
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