Nine dead after car drives into Canada festival crowd
Harshita Meenaktshi and Chris Helgren |
Nine people have been killed and multiple others injured after a driver drove into a crowd at a Filipino street festival in Canada.
Police said they were investigating a mass casualty incident and had arrested a 30-year-old Vancouver man at the scene.
They said nine people were confirmed dead.
“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” Vancouver police said in a post on X.
At a midnight press conference, police said the suspect was “known” to them but did not elaborate.
The man was initially taken into custody by people at the scene.
“There was a number of deceased, a number also injured,” Vancouver interim police chief Steve Rai said earlier.
“It would be unfair for me to speculate on exact numbers as the victims were taken to multiple hospitals in the region.”
The incident happened on Saturday night local time in South Vancouver where the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party, celebrating a Philippine national hero, was taking place.
The Vancouver Sun said thousands of people had been in the area.
One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck.
“I didn’t get to see the driver. All I heard was an engine rev,” Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, told 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.”
Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, was among the attendees at the event, but left minutes before the vehicle arrived, CTV News said.
“This is so horrific, I don’t even know what to say,” Singh told CTV.
“I was just there, and I just imagine the faces of the kids that I saw smiling and dancing.”
Canada’s federal election takes place on Monday.
Another witness, who did not wish to be identified, said he had seen about 15 people lying on the ground after the dark SUV plunged into the crowd.
The witness said the driver had tried to run but was chased down by festival-goers and held against a fence for about 10 minutes until police arrived.
Vancouver city councillor Peter Fry told CTV News he had also been at the event earlier in the day.
“This was a great day. A wonderful event. Huge community event. And to have it end in tragedy like this, it won’t break us or the community but it’s horrible,” he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X: “I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening.”
Vancouver’s Mayor Ken Sim and British Columbia Premier David Eby posted similar comments.
Reuters
