VANCOUVER — A man in a vehicle raced along a street lined with food trucks at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver, killing 11 in an attack the interim police chief called the “darkest day” in the city’s history.
The victims ranged in age from 5 to 65, and the death toll could grow, said Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai.
Dozens more were injured, some of them critically, and some of those haven’t been identified, Rai said at his second media briefing on Sunday.
Witnesses have said victims were sent flying as a black Audi SUV sped through the crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival just after 8 p.m. on Saturday.
“It’s just a tragedy all around for many families,” Rai said.
A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and remains in custody.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said at a news conference Sunday that it appeared “mental health is the underlying issue” for the attack.
“The individual in question has a significant history of mental health issues,” noting he’s known to police for a multitude of mental health interactions.
“I want to be clear, if anything is to come of this tragedy, it has to be change. I personally will not stop in calling on governments to make these changes now.”
The Vancouver police department has said in the past that mental health calls take up a significant portion of policing resources.
Rai said police were confident terrorism was not involved, although the motive is unknown.
The suspect won’t be identified until charges are laid, he said.
The attack left bodies and debris strewn across a long section of road near Fraser Street and West 43rd Avenue.
“This is the darkest day in our city’s history,” Rai said, calling it a “senseless, heartbreaking act of violence.”
B.C. Premier David Eby held a news conference Sunday near the site of the attack, telling reporters in a shaky voice that he had attended the event with his daughter on the afternoon before Saturday’s attack.
“British Columbians are right to be angry. Here’s a community that has done nothing but give, has been overlooked in terms of their contributions to our province, to this city, to this country. It is finally having an event where their culture is upheld and celebrated and it’s destroyed by a single individual.”
The premier said B.C. residents will support the Filipino community “just like they support us every single day in this province.”
Hip-hop artist Jacob Bureros attended a church service Sunday where members of the Filipino community gathered.
He said he had just wrapped up his performance at the festival when he saw the vehicle running through the crowd of people then quickly come to a stop.
“He jumped out of the car and ran, and so, we chased him down,” said Bureros.
He said the scene was chaotic and horrifying.
“There was a young woman in the middle of the road, there was someone who was holding their loved ones screaming, people running up and down, looking for their kids,” said Bureros, “I don’t even have words for it right now, it’s just really horrible.”
Realtor Abigail Andiso said she saw a couple dozen people on the ground after the SUV roared through the crowd.
“The car went just through the whole street,” she said.
“I can see straight away there’s about 20 or 30, maybe 20 people down, and everyone is panicking. Everyone is screaming and nobody knows what to do.”
Police said the victims were sent to nine hospitals around the Lower Mainland.
Barricades and tape sealed off a section of Fraser Street from West 41st Avenue to 43rd Avenue and bunches of flowers were starting to pile up in tribute to the victims on Sunday.
Sim said he has directed a full review of safety measures at events such as these.
However, Sim says “the city is safe,” and noted that there are about 3,000 events and festivals held in Vancouver every year.
Rai said a risk assessment was conducted before the event and police had decided no heavy-vehicle barricades would be placed at the event.
While Rai said he was confident that assessment was “sound,” a review of the circumstances surrounding the planning would be conducted with the City of Vancouver.
“It goes without saying, this will change the landscape for deployment for police,” Rai said, noting they assess about 1,000 protests and 2,200 events a year.
“The system has worked up to this point.”
A statement on social media from Public Safety Canada said officials believe the attack was an isolated incident, “and that there is no active threat to Canadians.”
Police said a 24-hour assistance centre had been established at the Douglas Park Community Centre, on West 22nd Avenue.
Prime Minister Mark Carney paused his election campaign to address the attack at a news conference.
“Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter,” he said in Hamilton, Ont.
Carney said Canadians were shocked, devastated and heartbroken as he offered condolences to the Filipino-Canadian community and the broader communities of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver.
The attack made international headlines and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he was “completely shattered” to hear the news and expressed “deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the strong and thriving Filipino community in Canada.”
“We are one with the families of the victims and the Filipino community in Vancouver during this difficult time,” he said in a statement posted to social media.
King Charles said he and his wife were “profoundly saddened” by the attack and “send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada.”
“Stay strong, our friends in Canada and the Philippines,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his own statement of condolence.
Lapu Lapu Day is named after an Indigenous resistance fighter in the Philippines who fought against Spanish colonization in the 16th Century.
The incident is the latest horrific car attack to take place in Canada in recent years.
A Quebec man is accused of killing two children and injuring six others in February 2023 when a city bus drove into a Montreal-area daycare.
Four members of a Muslim family were struck and killed by a pickup truck in London, Ont., in June 2021 in an attack a judge later deemed an act of terrorism.
In Toronto on April 23, 2018, a 25-year-old man drove a rented van into mostly female pedestrians on Yonge Street, killing 11 people.
— With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025.
The Canadian Press
