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Nine people killed as car ploughs into Vancouver festival crowd Nine people killed as car ploughs into Vancouver festival crowd
(about 5 hours later)
Man arrested after incident at Filipino Lapu Lapu event, as police say they are confident it was not terrorismMan arrested after incident at Filipino Lapu Lapu event, as police say they are confident it was not terrorism
Nine people were killed and others injured when a driver ploughed a car into a crowd at a street festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver, local police have said. Nine people were killed and others injured when a driver ploughed a car into a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver on Saturday evening.
Police said they were confident that the incident on Saturday was not an act of terrorism. A 30-year-old man who was driving a black SUV was arrested. Police said they were confident the incident was not an act of terrorism. A 30-year-old man who had been driving a black SUV was arrested.
“We can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night’s Lapu Lapu festival. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident, Vancouver police posted online. “We can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd … Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident, Vancouver police posted online.
The incident happened shortly after 8pm as members of the city’s Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival commemorates a Filipino anticolonial leader from the 16th century. Many of those in the area at the time were members of Vancouver’s Filipino community who had gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival commemorates a Filipino anticolonial leader from the 16th century.
Footage posted online showed a black SUV with a damaged bonnet parked on a street littered with debris as first-aiders tended to people lying on the ground. Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, paused general election campaigning to address the country on Sunday morning.
“Families lost a sister, mother, brother, son,” Carney said in emotional remarks, adding the country was staunchly behind the Filipino community. “We will comfort and care for each other… We will unite in common purposes.”
Carney said he had been briefed by national security officials who believed the attacker acted alone and that there was no active threat to the public.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the Filipino president, said he was “completely shattered” by the incident and said his government conveyed the “deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the strong and thriving Filipino community in Canada”.
The incident happened shortly after 8pm local time. Footage posted online showed a black SUV with a damaged bonnet parked on a street littered with debris as first-aiders tended to people lying on the ground.
One witness told CTV News he saw a vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was hit. The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people had been in the area.One witness told CTV News he saw a vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was hit. The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people had been in the area.
“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev,” said Yoseb Vardeh, a food truck operator, in an interview with Postmedia. “I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere. He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev,” said Yoseb Vardeh, a food truck operator, in an interview with Postmedia. “I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere. He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”
The Vancouver mayor, Ken Sim, said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.” Video circulating on social media showed a young man in a hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. “I’m sorry,” the man said, holding his hand to his head.
The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, said he was devastated at the news. “I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver,” he wrote on X. “We are all mourning with you.”
The incident happened just before Canadians go to the polls on Monday after a frenetic election race where candidates have wooed voters on issues including rising living costs and tackling Donald Trump’s tariffs. Carney is favoured to win after promising voters he would stand up to Washington’s sweeping import levies.
Police set up a 24-hour assistance centre to help anyone who had been unable to contact relatives or friends who were at the festival.Police set up a 24-hour assistance centre to help anyone who had been unable to contact relatives or friends who were at the festival.
The Vancouver mayor, Ken Sim, said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
The incident happened shortly before Canadians go to the polls on Monday after a frenetic election race where candidates have wooed voters on issues including rising living costs and tackling Donald Trump’s tariffs. Carney is favoured to win after promising voters he would stand up to Washington’s sweeping import levies.
The New Democratic party leader, Jagmeet Singh, had attended the festival to meet voters. He left about an hour before the incident
Carney was due to fly to the province of British Columbia on Sunday in the final stretch of the federal election campaign.
King Charles said he and his wife were “profoundly saddened” by the attack and “send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonising time for so many in Canada”.
Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of the Indigenous chief Lapulapu, who led his men to defeat the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of the Indigenous chief Lapulapu, who led his men to defeat the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.