Murder charges were filed Sunday against a suspect in a car ramming attack that killed 11 people between the ages of 5 and 65 at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver.
This from msn.com.
The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, a Vancouver man, with eight counts of second degree murder and said more charges were possible.
Prosecutors said:
Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court and remains in custody.
Dozens of others were injured, some critically, as the tragedy shook the country before a federal election. Authorities had not released victims’ names by Sunday evening.
A man driving a black Audi SUV entered the street just after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival.
It is the darkest day in Vancouver’s history.
Interim Chief Rai stated:
The person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health.
Video of the aftermath shows the dead and injured along a narrow street in South Vancouver lined by 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 past the barricade slowly before the driver slammed on the gas 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 explained:
He sideswiped someone on his right side and I was like, ‘Oh, yo yo.’ And then he slammed on the gas.
And the sound of the acceleration, it sounds like an F1 car about to start a race.
Further:
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.
And:
It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.
Pangilinan said that it would be hard to believe, “that someone has some malice against the Filipino people.”
Rai said:
[T]he man was arrested 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 and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.
“I’m sorry,” the man said, holding his hand to his head.
Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the final day of the election campaign before Monday’s vote.
He said:
Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every family’s nightmare.
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.
Carney planned to join British Columbia Premier David Eby and community leaders Sunday evening in Vancouver.
In 2018, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told police he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom have plotted attacks on people who have sex.
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said the city had “suffered its darkest day.”
Further:
I know many of us are fearful and feel uneasy. I know it’s hard to feel this way right now, but Vancouver is still a safe city.
Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s total 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.”
Premier Eby stated the people are determined not to allow the tragedy to define the province nor the celebration. He urged people to channel their rage into helping those affected.
Further:
I don’t think there is a British Columbian that hasn’t been touched in some way by the Filipino community.
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, childcare or schools.
This is a community that gives and gives and yesterday was a celebration of their culture.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy with the victims and their families. He said:
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.
The country’s Department of Foreign Affairs said:
We remember the 1 million strong Filipino community in Canada and pray for their continued strength and resilience.
Final thought: Peculiar that mental illness was blamed, not the vehicle.
