The British Columbia prosecutor’s department charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second-degree murder and said there may be more charges. Investigators ruled out terrorism and said LO has a history of mental health problems.
Prosecutors said Vancouver resident Lo appeared in court and was still in custody. LO’s attorney was not listed in online court documents and the Associated Press was unable to contact the attorney representing him immediately.
Dozens of people were injured, some seriously injured when a man driving a black Audi SUV entered the streets after 8 p.m. Saturday and attacked people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival. He was arrested at the scene. Authorities did not release the victim’s name on Sunday night.
“This is the darkest day in Vancouver history,” police interim chief Steve Rai said in a press conference.
“The people we are detained do have an important history of interacting with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health,” he said.
The video of the back horse shows the dead, injured along a narrow street in southern Vancouver. The front of the driver’s SUV was shattered.
Kris Pangilinan brought his pop-up costume and lifestyle booth to the festival, and he saw the vehicle slowly entering the barricade, and the driver slammed the plug on the gas that filled the concert. He said he would never leave his thoughts by hearing the sound of hitting the vehicle.
“He opened a guy on the right and I was like, ‘Oh, yo.’ And then he slammed the gasoline,” he said. “The acceleration sounds like the F1 car is about to start racing.
“He slammed and violently in the crowd. All I remember was seeing the body flying higher in the air than the food truck itself, landing on the ground, and people yelled. It looked like a bowling bowling ball, all the pins flew into the air.”
Pangilinan said it was hard to believe that “there was some malice against the Filipino people.”
The suspect was detained by bystanders before police arrived, and a 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene. Lai said the man was arrested after being initially arrested by bystanders.
Videos circulating on social media showed a young man in a black hoodie leaning against a chain fence and joining security guards, surrounded by onlookers, screaming and swearing at him.
“I’m sorry,” the man said holding his hand.
Rai declined to comment on the video.
Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign and two big rallies ahead of his vote on Monday.
“Last night, the family lost an older sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter. These families are living in the nightmare of every family,” Carney said. “I want to express my deepest condolences to them and the many injured people, to everyone in the Philippines in Canada and to Vancouver.”
Carney plans to join British Columbia Prime Minister David Eby and community leaders on Sunday night in Vancouver.
In 2018, a man killed 10 pedestrians in Toronto using a van. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told police he belonged to an online community of sexually depressed men, some of whom had attacked people who had sex.
Witnesses described how they jumped out of the way, Carayn Nulada said, pulling her granddaughter and grandson out of the street and using her body to protect them from the SUV. She said her daughter escaped a narrow escape.
“The car hit her arm, she fell, she fell, she came to us because she was scared,” said Nulada, who screamed, pale victims who were lying on the ground or wedged under the vehicle.
“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”
Nulada was in the emergency room of Vancouver General Hospital Sunday morning in an emergency room, trying to find out about her brother, who was knocked down and suffered multiple fractured bones in the attack.
The doctor identified him by giving his wedding ring in a bottle and saying he was stable but he would face surgery.
Vancouver business owner James Cruzat was in the celebration and heard the car’s engine and then “the loud noise, like a loud explosion,” which he initially thought might have been gunshots.
“We see people crying on the road, and others are like running, shouting and even screaming, asking for help. So we try to go there just to check what actually happened until we find some dead bodies on the ground. Others are lifeless and others are injured,” Cruzat said.
Vincent Reynon, 17, left the festival when he saw police rushing in. People were crying and he saw the bodies on the ground. “It’s like a horror movie or something in a nightmare,” he said.
Adonis Quita said his first reaction when he saw the SUV crashing in a crowd was to drag his 9-year-old son out of the area. Kita recalled that the boy kept saying, “I was scared, I was scared.” Later they prayed together. His son has just moved to Vancouver with his mother from the Philippines to reunite with Quita, where Quita has lived since 2024. Quita said he was worried that his children would be hard to adapt to Canadian life after witnessing the horrible incident.
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said the city “had suffered its darkest day.”
“I know many of us are scared and uneasy,” the mayor said. “I know it’s hard to feel that way now, but Vancouver is still a safe city.”
According to Statistics Canada, the agency that hosts the national census, Vancouver’s large Filipino population honors a national hero Vancouver with more than 38,600 residents of the Philippines’ heritage, accounting for 5.9% of the city’s total population.
Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an indigenous chief who stood among Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century. The organizer of the Vancouver incident, which was the second year already, said he “represented the soul of local resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Philippines’ identity in the face of colonization.” Abby said the province would not let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to arouse anger to help those affected.
“I don’t think there is no Filipino community in British Columbia that touches British Columbia in some way,” he said. “You can’t hand over at a long-term care home or a hospital, a child care or a school place without meeting members of that community. It’s a community that provides and donates, and yesterday was a celebration of their culture.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy for the victims and their families.
“The Philippine Consulate in Vancouver will work with Canadian authorities to ensure a thorough investigation of the incident and the support and comfort of the victims and their families,” he said.
“We remember Canada’s 1 million strong Filipino communities and pray for their continued strength and resilience,” the country’s foreign ministry said.
