On Saturday evening, a driver who ploughed into a street festival celebrating the Canadian Filipino population in Vancouver, British Columbia killed “many people” on Saturday evening, according to local police.
Police said they had taken one suspect into custody: a driver, a 30-year-old man from Vancouver. At a one-night press conference, local officials were injured without specifying a death toll.
They also said that although they did not address the possible motivations, the driver was already known to police. Members of the crowd quelled the man before police arrived at the scene.
People were out to celebrate the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in the city's southern part of the city, said on social media, when the driver entered the crowd just after 8pm.
Videos from local news media showed ambulances and police vehicles that tend to be ambulances and ambulances on the ground.
Vancouver mayor Ken Sim said he was “shocked and deeply saddened by the horrifying incident.”
A Vancouver General Hospital spokesperson said they received multiple patients injured at the festival.
In a social media post, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said “we are devastated to hear about the horrifying events at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver earlier tonight.”
“I represent the deepest sadness of the dolphins to the loved ones of those killed and wounded, to the Canadian community in the Philippines and to everyone in Vancouver,” he said. “We are all in mourning with you.”
Lapu Lapu Day was officially declared on April 27, 2023 as a testament to the legacy of Datu Lapu-Lapu, the legacy of Datu Lapu-Lapu, considered the national hero to stand up against Spanish colonies in the early 1500s. Authorities said up to 100,000 people attended the festival on Saturday.
According to the government, there are almost 1 million Filipino immigrants and Filipino people living in Canada. British Columbia has almost a fifth of that number.
