Death toll in Lapu Lapu festival attack rises to 11

Vancouver’s Filipino group has been left in shock and mourning after a automotive ramming assault left 11 individuals lifeless on Saturday.

The assault, which came about on the annual Lapu Lapu pageant which celebrates Filipino tradition, additionally left dozens wounded.

The occasion’s organisers stated the town’s tight-knit Filipino group is “grieving” and that the assault’s affect shall be felt for years to return.

A 30-year-old suspect – who police stated has a historical past of psychological well being points – has been taken into custody.

Police have but to disclose a motive for the assault, however stated they don’t imagine it was an act of terrorism.

The assault came about at roughly 20:14 native time on Saturday (03:14 GMT) at East forty third Avenue and Fraser within the south of Vancouver.

On the scene on Sunday, individuals started laying flowers and paying their respects.

One lady doubled over sobbing earlier than strolling off. One other lady, named Donna, stated she lived within the neighbourhood for greater than 50 years.

She was on the pageant and stated it was filled with younger individuals and households.

“Folks have been right here to have fun and have enjoyable,” she advised the BBC. “That is tragic.”

Talking at a information convention the next day, RJ Aquino, the pinnacle of the Filipino BC organisation, stated that “final night time was extraordinarily troublesome and the group will really feel this for a very long time.”

“We all know that there is lots of questions floating about and we do not have all of the solutions, however we wish to inform all people that we’re grieving,” he added.

Mr Aquino stated that the assault induced appreciable confusion and chaos within the metropolis’s tight-knit Filipino group, with many residents calling each other to examine on their family members.

“I do not assume my cellphone has buzzed that a lot in my total life,” he stated. “There was lots of panic and, you already know, reduction, when someone solutions.”

At a separate information briefing on Sunday, appearing Vancouver police chief Steve Rai stated it was the “darkest day” within the metropolis’s historical past.

He stated “dozens” of individuals have been injured within the assault, some critically.

“The variety of lifeless might rise within the coming days or perhaps weeks,” he advised reporters, including that males, ladies and younger individuals have been among the many victims.

The suspect – who has not been named – was taken into custody by law enforcement officials after being detained by bystanders on the scene.

Whereas Rai declined to specify any potential motive, he stated that he “can now say with confidence that the proof on this case doesn’t lead us to imagine this was an act of terrorism.”

The suspect, he added, has “a major historical past of interactions with police and healthcare professionals associated to psychological well being”.

Formal legal fees haven’t but been filed.

The pageant in Vancouver – dwelling to over 140,000 Canadians of Filipino descent – takes place yearly to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a nationwide hero who resisted Spanish colonisation within the 1500s.

Tens of 1000’s of individuals have been in attendance on the occasion.

In response to Rai, police had carried out a risk evaluation forward of the pageant, and had partially closed a street on a road behind a faculty the place the majority of the festivities have been going down.

There was nothing to point a better risk degree for the occasion, he added.

The road the place the assault came about was largely being utilized by meals vans and there have been no limitations in place.

Rai stated that the incident can be a “watershed second” for metropolis officers and first responders.

The assault got here simply earlier than Canada’s federal election on 28 April, prompting Prime Minister Mark Carney to cancel massive gatherings of Liberal Celebration supporters in Calgary and Richmond.

Smaller community-focused occasions in Saskatoon and Edmonton have been anticipated to proceed as deliberate.

In a televised tackle to Canadians, Carney stated he was “heartbroken” and “devastated” by the assault.

His marketing campaign stated he would go to Vancouver on Sunday.

The principle opposition candidate, Pierre Polievre, continued campaigning, however made an unscheduled cease at a church in Mississauga – a suburb of Toronto – to satisfy with members of the Filipino group.

Showing alongside his spouse Anaida Poilievre, the Conservative chief expressed his condolences. “I wished to be right here with you in solidarity,” he advised the church attendees.

In the meantime, the chief of the British Columbia New Democratic Celebration David Eby, stated he was “shocked and heartbroken”.

One Canadian political chief, the New Democrats’ Jagmeet Singh, was amongst those that attended the Lapu Lapu pageant on Saturday, and subsequently modified his deliberate occasions on Sunday.

He stated it was “heart-breaking” to see that “such pleasure could be torn aside so violently.

“I noticed households gathered collectively, I noticed kids dancing, I noticed satisfaction in tradition, in historical past and group,” he added.