Vancouver car attack witnesses describe horror scenes of 11 people killed by drivers: “Lifeless corpses on the street”

A man charged with multiple counts of murder He killed 11 people Witnesses describe a horrifying scene when he bumped into a group of people at the Philippine Heritage Festival in Vancouver.

Kai-ji Adam Lo, 30, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in a video appearance and was arrested in a judge just hours after he was arrested at the scene, said Dami, a spokeswoman for British Columbia attorney.

Investigators exclude terrorism from motivation and say there may be more allegations. They say Lo has a history of mental health problems. He has not entered the request yet.

Attorneys who did not list LO in online court documents, the Associated Press was unable to contact the attorney representing him immediately.

Officials said those killed were between 5 and 65 years old. After 8 p.m. Saturday, a black Audi SUV caught up with a closed street and attacked people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival, with about twenty people injured, some injured. Authorities did not release the victim’s name on Sunday night.

Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter brought flowers to one of the vigils. They attended the festival on Saturday, where Nairn talked about damaged SUVs and bodies on the ground.

“Something dark happened last night,” Nairn said as she wiped her tears with her daughter.

Emily Daniels also brought a bouquet. “It’s sad. It’s really sad.” “I can’t believe that something like this could be so close to home.”

Interim Police Chief Steve Rai called it “the darkest day in Vancouver history.” There is no sign of motivation, but Rai said the suspect “has an important history of interaction with police and health care professionals associated with mental health.”

Video of the back horse shows the deceased injured along a narrow street in southern Vancouver. The front of the Audi SUV was shattered.

Kris Pangilinan brought the pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival and saw the vehicle accelerate in an area where the driver was crowded after the concert, and where the driver accelerated, the car slowly entered the barricade. He said the idea of ​​hearing people screaming and the bodies that hit the vehicles would never leave him.

“He slammed the gas and barreled in the crowd,” Pangilinan said. “It looks like a bowling ball, all the pins are flying into the air.”

The suspect was detained by bystanders before police arrived

Lai said the suspect was arrested after being initially arrested by bystanders.

Videos circulating on social media show a young man wearing a black hoodie with a chain fence on his back, 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 to many injured people, to everyone in the Philippines in Canada and to Vancouver.”

Carney joined British Columbia Prime Minister David Eby and community leaders Sunday night in Vancouver.

“In this incredibly difficult time, we will comfort the grief, care for each other and unite with a common purpose,” Carney posted photos on X in French and English, as well as photos of him lighting candles at the temporary memorial near the scene of the attack.

The tragedy is reminiscent of a 2018 attack, when a man killed 10 pedestrians in Toronto in a van.

Witnesses describe how they jumped out

Witness Dale Selipe told the Vancouver Sun that she saw the injured child on the street after the vehicle crashed into the crowd.

Selipe told the newspaper: “There was a woman staring into her eyes, one of her legs had broken. One man held her hand and tried to comfort her.”

Festival security guard Jen Idaba-Castaneto told local news sites that she saw bodies everywhere.

“When I heard people screaming, I ran to see what happened, and I saw lifeless bodies on the street. The first person I saw died on the spot. Many others were injured or died.”

Carayn Nulada said she pulled her granddaughter and grandson out of the street and blocked them from the SUV with her body. She said her daughter escaped a narrow escape.

“The car hit her arm and she fell, but she got up and went to look for 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,” said Nurada.

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-based business owner James Cruzat was in the celebration and heard the car’s engine and then “a loud noise, like a loud explosion,” which he initially thought might have been gunshots.

“We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting and even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless and others were injured.”

Vincent Reynon, 17, left the festival when he saw police rushing in. People were crying and he saw the scattered bodies.

“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 a 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.”

Vancouver’s Filipino population is respecting national heroes

Vancouver has more than 38,600 residents of Philippine heritage in 2021, accounting for 5.9% of the city’s total population, according to the agency that conducted the national census.

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 said he “represented the soul of local resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the identity of the Philippines in the face of colonization.”

Ebby said the province will not let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to arouse anger to help those affected.

“I don’t think there is a Filipino community in British Columbia that somehow moves British Columbia,” he said. “You can’t hand over at a long-term care home or a place in a hospital, a child care or school, nor meet with members of that community. It’s a community that provides and donates, and yesterday is a celebration of their culture.”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy for the victims and their families.

“The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to ensure a thorough investigation of the incident and the support and comfort of the victims and their families,” he said.

The Philippine government is coordinating with local police to gather more details about the victims and investigations, while the Vancouver consulate has set up a hotline for families, Presidential Palace Press Officer Claire Castro told reporters in Manila on Monday.