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 folks lifeless on Saturday.

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

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

A 30-year-old suspect – who police mentioned 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 mentioned they don’t imagine it was an act of terrorism.

The assault occurred 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, folks started laying flowers and paying their respects.

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

She was on the pageant and mentioned it was full of younger folks and households.

“Individuals have been right here to rejoice and have enjoyable,” she instructed the BBC. “That is tragic.”

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

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

Mr Aquino mentioned that the assault precipitated 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 complete life,” he mentioned. “There was a variety of panic and, you realize, reduction, when anyone solutions.”

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

He mentioned “dozens” of individuals have been injured within the assault, some severely.

“The variety of lifeless might rise within the coming days or perhaps weeks,” he instructed reporters, including that males, ladies and younger folks 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 mentioned 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 hundreds of individuals have been in attendance on the occasion.

Based on Rai, police had carried out a menace evaluation forward of the pageant, and had partially closed a street on a avenue behind a faculty the place the majority of the festivities have been happening.

There was nothing to point the next menace stage for the occasion, he added.

The road the place the assault occurred was largely being utilized by meals vehicles and there have been no limitations in place.

Rai mentioned 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 giant gatherings of Liberal Social gathering 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 mentioned he was “heartbroken” and “devastated” by the assault.

The principle opposition candidate, Pierre Polievre, continued campaigning because the candidates sought to make remaining pitches to voters earlier than they head to the polls.

Poilievre, chief of Canada’s Conservative Social gathering, known as the incident a “mindless assault”, whereas the chief of the British Columbia New Democratic Social gathering, David Eby, mentioned 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 mentioned it was “heart-breaking” to see that “such pleasure will 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.