No less than 9 individuals have been killed after a automobile was pushed right into a crowd at a avenue pageant in Vancouver, police have confirmed.
Authorities within the western Canadian metropolis stated “a number of others” had been injured throughout the incident, which occurred at roughly 20:14 native time on Saturday (03:14 GMT on Sunday) at a avenue pageant.
Police stated a 30-year-old male suspect was in custody and that they had been “assured that this incident was not an act of terrorism”. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Police stated the suspect had pushed into pedestrians on the annual Lapu Lapu pageant, which celebrates Filipino tradition, at East forty third Avenue and Fraser, within the south of Vancouver.
Steve Rai, Vancouver Police’s interim chief, instructed a information convention that there had been one car and one suspect concerned within the incident. He stated extra particulars can be launched within the morning.
The proprietor of a meals truck promoting bao buns on the pageant, Yoseb Vardeh, instructed the BBC World Service that the assault occurred proper in entrance of his van.
“This man, he killed a few of my clients,” he stated. “There was individuals ready for his or her buns that acquired hit.”
Mr Vardeh added: “I stepped outdoors of my meals truck and I simply noticed our bodies beneath individuals’s meals vehicles, husbands crying out for his or her wives or their children… It was simply horrible.”
Unverified footage posted on social media confirmed a variety of police vehicles, ambulances and hearth engines on the scene, with injured individuals mendacity on the bottom.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated in a press release on X that he was “devastated to listen to in regards to the horrific occasions on the Lapu Lapu pageant in Vancouver”.
He continued: “I supply my deepest condolences to the family members of these killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian neighborhood, and to everybody in Vancouver. We’re all mourning with you.”
He additionally thanked emergency responders for his or her “swift motion”.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim stated he was “shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident”, including in a put up that his “ideas are with all these affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino neighborhood throughout this extremely tough time.”
One in all Vancouver’s metropolis councillors, Peter Fry, instructed the BBC that native residents had been struggling to course of what had occurred.
“This celebration was an enormous, enjoyable, vibrant, family-orientated avenue social gathering, and it was a implausible occasion. To see it flip so horrible so rapidly and unexpectedly has, I feel, our complete metropolis is in shock,” he stated.
Lapu Lapu Day is widely known yearly within the Philippines on 27 April to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a nationwide hero who resisted Spanish colonisation.
The pageant was formally arrange in Vancouver in 2023. Its web site says it “symbolises the cultural concord and mutual respect that thrive within the province of British Columbia”.
Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr stated he was “shattered to listen to in regards to the horrible incident”, including that the Philippine consulate common would work with Canadian authorities to make sure the tragedy was completely investigated.
King Charles III stated he and Queen Camilla had been “profoundly saddened to be taught of the dreadful assault and totally tragic lack of life in Vancouver”.
He added in a press release: “Our hearts and prayers exit to all these whose lives have been shattered by such a determined tragedy and we ship our deepest attainable sympathy at a most agoinising time for therefore many in Canada.”
Leaders of various Canadian political events have additionally shared messages of condolence.
Pierre Poilievre, chief of Canada’s Conservative Get together, referred to as the incident a “mindless assault”, whereas the chief of the British Columbia New Democratic Get together, David Eby, stated he was “shocked and heartbroken”.
New Democratic Get together chief Jagmeet Singh – who had attended the pageant however was not current when the incident occurred – stated he was “horrified to be taught” that harmless individuals had been killed and injured.
“As we wait to be taught extra, our ideas are with the victims and their households – and Vancouver’s Filipino neighborhood, who had been coming collectively as we speak to rejoice resilience,” he added.
Singh, Poilievre and Carney are all operating in Canada’s federal election on Monday. Singh’s constituency of Burnaby Central lies simply east of the place the incident came about.
