 "Vancouver police investigate a crime scene after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver on April 26, 2025. AFP Photo")
At least 11 people were killed and several others injured when a vehicle drove into a crowd at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver on Saturday. The incident occurred around 8:14 pm during the Lapu Lapu Day festival in the Sunset on Fraser neighborhood.
The ramming shocked the country a day before a general election dominated by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products and his threat to annex his northern neighbor, long a key ally and trading partner. The police confirmed that the suspect, who has a history of mental health issues has been arrested.
The Filipino community had gathered in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood on Saturday evening when festivalgoers were hit.
“We can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night’s Lapu Lapu Festival,” Vancouver police said on X.
The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election on Monday.
Canada PM calls deadly Vancouver incident a ‘car-ramming attack’
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday described the incident in Vancouver that killed nine people at a Filipino street festival as a “car-ramming attack,” adding that more than 20 people were injured.
Police have ruled out terrorism as a motive and Carney, speaking a day before a national election, said that while the investigation is ongoing there is no indication of an “active threat to Canadians,” following the attack perpetrated a male driver, who has been arrested.
Suspect was detained by bystanders before the police arrived A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and the department’s Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation, police said.
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More Shorts”At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” the police department posted early Sunday.
Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai told a news conference that the man was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders.
Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black 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 says, holding his hand to his head.
Rai declined to comment on the video, but said the person in custody was a ”lone male” who was “known to police in certain circumstances.” Carney said authorities do not believe there is any active threat to Canadians.
“Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” Carney said, fighting back tears. “And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences.” In 2018, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told police that he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom have plotted attacks on people who have sex.
With inputs from agencies