Suspect charged in Canada car-ramming attack that left 11 dead
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People gathering to mourn victims of the car-ramming attack at a Filipino street festival in Vancouver.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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VANCOUVER – The suspect in a Canadian car-ramming attack that left 11 dead at a Filipino street party was charged with murder, police said on April 27, adding that additional charges were anticipated.
The suspect, identified as Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, from Vancouver, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
Lo, who appeared in court before returning to police custody, was alleged to have acted deliberately and had a history of mental health problems, police said.
No motive has been confirmed for the April 26 evening attack in the western city of Vancouver, though terrorism was ruled out by police.
The attack shocked the country a day before a general election
Police chief Steve Rai said the 30-year-old suspect drove a black Audi sport utility vehicle and had a “significant history” of interaction with police and mental healthcare professionals.
The Filipino community had gathered in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood when festivalgoers were hit by the sport utility vehicle.
The celebration, called the Lapu Lapu Festival, commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a brief address to the nation, teared up as he addressed the tragedy.
“Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter,” he said. “Those families are living every family’s nightmare.”
An AFP reporter saw police officers at the scene on the evening of April 26, with parts of the festival venue cordoned off.
Footage posted online and verified by AFP shows the vehicle with a damaged hood parked on a street littered with debris, metres from first aid crews tending to people lying on the ground.
Eyewitness Dale Selipe told the Vancouver Sun that she saw injured children on the street after the vehicle rammed into the crowd.
“There was a lady with her eyes staring up, one of her legs was already broken. One person was holding her hand trying to comfort her,” Ms Selipe told the newspaper.
‘Bodies everywhere’
Festival security guard Jen Idaba-Castaneto told a local news site that she saw bodies everywhere.
“You don’t know who to help, here or there,” she said.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said in an online post: “I am shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in a statement that he was “completely shattered to hear about the terrible incident”.
In the capital Ottawa, Ms Julie Dunbar, a semi-retiree out for a morning run, recalled a 2018 attack in Toronto in which a man in a van killed 11 people.
“So it has occurred before, but I fear for the society that we live in, that these things can happen,” said Ms Dunbar, 72.
The April 26 event featured a parade, a film screening, dancing and a concert, with two members of the Black Eyed Peas featured on the line-up published by the organisers.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of indigenous chief Lapulapu, who led his men to defeat Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.
Vancouver police said in a statement: “This is the darkest day in our city’s history.”
Britain’s King Charles III, Canada’s head of state, said on April 27 that he was “profoundly saddened” by the deaths.
Canadians go to the polls on April 28 after an election race where candidates have wooed voters on issues including rising living costs and standing up to Mr Trump. Mr Carney is favoured to win after assuring voters he can stand up to Washington’s barrage of sweeping tariffs and threats of annexation. AFP
