Car Plows Into Vancouver Street Fair, Killing People

A driver ran over a group of party attendees who attended a Filipina Street Festival on Saturday night in Vancouver, British Columbia, killing at least nine people, according to local authorities.

Vancouver police said previously that they were investigating a “Massass Casale incident” at a neighborhood block party. Police said they had “a lonely suspect” tasks in the place: the driver, a 30 -year -old Vancouver man.

“Approximately at 8:14 pm on April 26, a man led to a large multitude of people attending the Lapu Lapu Festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street,” Vancouver police said in a publication on social networks. The annual event celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, a national hero in the Philippines.

“From now on, we can confirm that nine people have died after a man led through a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival last night,” police said in another publication on social networks on the early Sunday. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident.”

Vancouver police said in an email that the investigators had ruled out terrorism as a reason, but did not offer more details. The photographs published by the news agencies showed what seemed to be a black SUV with significant damage in the front of the vehicle, and their airbags deployed.

At a press conference, Steve Rai, the interim police chief, did not address a possible reason for the incident, but said the driver had been known by the Police. The members of the crowd had submitted the man before the officers arrived at the scene, he said.

The incident occurred less than 48 hours before federal elections in Canada occur. When journalists asked if the incident was related to the elections, Mr. Rai said: “I don’t know anything about that.”

Canada’s Prime Minister of Canada said in a publication on social networks that he was “devastated to hear about the horrible events at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver earlier this night.”

“I sacrifice my deepest condolences to the loved ones of the murdered and killed, to the Canadian Philippine community and all in Vancouver,” he said. “We are all mourning with you.”

The mayor of Vancouver, Ken Sim, said he was “shocked and deeply sad by the horrible incident.”

Vancouver is proud to be a diverse and multicultural city, with more than half or its Idens residents that are identified as a “visible minority”, according to the 2021 census data.

Lapu Lapu’s day is an annual celebration in the Philippines, which marks the memory of Datu Lapu Lapu, who faced Spanish colonization. In Vancouver, the Festival, established as an annual event in 2023.