Police in Canada mentioned they’ve dominated out terrorism as a motivator after a person drove right into a crowd at a Filipino heritage competition in Vancouver on Saturday night time, killing 11 individuals and injuring dozens of others. The suspect is now going through homicide costs.
Vancouver Police Interim Chief Steve Rai informed a information convention on Sunday afternoon that the suspect detained in reference to the incident on the Lapu Lapu Day competition has a historical past of psychological well being points.
“Whereas I am not ready to discuss the potential motive, I can now say with confidence that the proof on this case doesn’t lead us to imagine this was an act of terrorism,” he mentioned. “I can even let you know that the individual we have now in custody does have a big historical past of interactions with police and well being care professionals associated to psychological well being.”
Wealthy Lam/The Canadian Press through AP 
Rai, who mentioned they count on the variety of useless to rise within the coming days or even weeks, known as the incident a “mindless, heartbreaking act of violence.”
“That is the darkest day in our metropolis’s historical past,” he mentioned.
A Vancouver man, recognized as 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was arrested after a car entered the road at 8:14 p.m. native time on Saturday and struck individuals attending the competition, the Vancouver Police Division mentioned. At an earlier information convention, Rai mentioned the suspect was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders.
Lo has been charged with eight counts of second diploma homicide, police mentioned Sunday, including that “additional costs are anticipated.”
Video circulating on social media reveals a younger man in a black hoodie together with his again in opposition to a sequence hyperlink fence, alongside a safety guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.
“I am sorry,” the person says, holding his hand to his head.
The competition was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media confirmed victims and particles strewn throughout a protracted stretch of highway, with at the very least seven individuals mendacity motionless on the bottom. A black SUV with a crumpled entrance part might be seen in nonetheless images from the scene.
Ufuk Celal Guzel/Anadolu through Getty Photos 
James Cruzat, a Vancouver enterprise proprietor, was on the occasion and heard a automotive rev its engine after which “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought could be a gunshot.
“We noticed individuals on the highway crying, others have been like operating, shouting, and even screaming, asking for assist. So we tried to go there simply to examine what was actually truly taking place till we discovered some our bodies on the bottom. Others have been lifeless, others like, you recognize, injured,” Cruzat mentioned.
“It was horrible to see that form of incident, that scenario. It was heartbreaking,” Cruzat mentioned. “I could not even think about that it is truly taking place in actual life, as a result of usually we see that on TVs or films. However when you’re in that form of scenario, it was actually surprising. … You could not do something however to wish for them.”
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim mentioned in a social media put up that town would offer extra info when doable.
“I’m shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at at this time’s Lapu Lapu Day occasion,” Sim mentioned. “Our ideas are with all these affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino group throughout this extremely tough time.”
Lapu Lapu Day competition
Vancouver had greater than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of town’s complete inhabitants, in accordance with Statistics Canada, the company that conducts the nationwide census.
Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood as much as Spanish explorers who got here to the Philippines within the sixteenth century. The organizers of the Vancouver occasion mentioned he “represents the soul of native resistance, a strong power that helped form the Filipino id within the face of colonization.”
Wealthy Lam/The Canadian Press through AP 
Prime Minister Mark Carney and different Canadian political figures posted messages expressing shock on the violence, condolences for victims and assist for the group celebrating its heritage on the competition.
“I supply my deepest condolences to the family members of these killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian group, and to everybody in Vancouver. We’re all mourning with you,” Carney wrote.
“As we wait to be taught extra, our ideas are with the victims and their households — and Vancouver’s Filipino group, who have been coming collectively at this time to have fun resilience,” wrote Jagmeet Singh, chief of the New Democratic Celebration, who was on the competition earlier within the day.
“My ideas are with the Filipino group and all of the victims focused by this mindless assault. Thanks to the primary responders who’re on the scene as we wait to listen to extra,” Conservative Celebration chief Pierre Poilievre wrote.
David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province the place Vancouver is positioned, mentioned he was shocked and heartbroken. “We’re involved with the Metropolis of Vancouver and can present any assist wanted,” Eby wrote.
