I’m sorry,’ the suspect said to the audience after being apprehended after using his SUV to kill at least 11 people at a Vancouver, Canada, festival.
Just after 8 p.m. on Saturday, the car crashed into people at the Lapu Lapu Day festival, causing chaos. An unidentified 30-year-old male was taken into custody.
In South Vancouver, a narrow street lined with food trucks was spotted with dead bodies and injured partygoers. The driver’s SUV was destroyed in the front.
According to the Associated Press, a young man wearing a black hoodie was seen with his back against a chain-link fence, a security guard by his side, and onlookers yelling and cursing at him in a video that went viral on social media.
According to AP, the man held his palm to his head and murmured, “I’m sorry.”
Steve Rai, the interim chief of police in Vancouver, stated that the individual in custody was a “lone male” who was “known to police in certain circumstances,” but he declined to comment on the video.
Police stated the suspect had mental health problems and ruled out that it was a terrorist act.
Families, kids, and neighbors from all over Vancouver had come to the festival, ready to enjoy the pleasant spring evening, not realizing the horror that was about to happen.
Instead, before paramedics could arrive, onlookers hurried to administer first aid, turning the street into an impromptu triage center.
Carayn Nulada, a bystander, reported that she used her body to protect her granddaughter and grandson from the SUV after dragging them off the street. According to her, her daughter had a close call.
“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.
“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”
While attending the event, James Cruzat, a business owner from Vancouver, heard a car rev its engine and then “a loud noise, like a loud bang,” which at first he believed to be a gunshot.
“We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help.”
“So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured,” Cruzat said.
An SUV rushed into the throng at tremendous speed, according to Nic Magtajas.
“I saw a bunch of people go over, go high up from the impact of hitting the car,” said Magtajas, 19.
In response to the incident, King Charles shared a statement: “Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals.”
“Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada.”
In a social media post, Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim stated that the city would, whenever feasible, share additional details.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today´s Lapu Lapu Day event,’ Sim said. ‘Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver´s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
According to Statistics Canada, the organization that performs the national census, in 2021, there were about 38,600 Filipino-American inhabitants in Vancouver, making up 5.9 percent of the city’s overall population.
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 said that he “represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization.”
On the last day of the election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney and other political figures shared statements expressing their astonishment at the violence, their sympathy for the victims, and their support for the community’s heritage celebration.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you,” Carney wrote.
Carney postponed his campaign activities.
In a statement, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed his condolences to the victims and their loved ones.
“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,” he said.
The country’s Department of Foreign Affairs said that “we remember the 1 million strong Filipino community in Canada and pray for their continued strength and resilience.”
