Police examine the scene Sunday after a vehicle drove into a crowd the night before during a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, B.CSean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP
A packed festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, to celebrate Filipino culture ended in tragedy Saturday night when a vehicle plowed into a crowd, killing 11 people and injuring dozens.
A 30-year-old man was arrested and charged with several counts of murder in connection the attack that officials do not believe was an act of terrorism.
Here’s what we know:
The crash
The attack happened at East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street at 8:14 p.m. local time, police said on X. People were at the Lapu Lapu Day block party in East Vancouver, an annual event that celebrates the Filipino culture.
Yoseb Vardeh, who co-owns a food truck at the festival, told the Vancouver Sun that he heard an engine revving moments before a speeding vehicle drove down a pedestrian-only area. He said when he walked out of his food truck, he saw “bodies everywhere.”
Clothing vendor Kris Pangilinan told The Associated Press that he heard what sounded “like an F1 car about to start a race” immediately followed by screams. He said he could hear the sound of bodies hitting the hood of the SUV as it sped through the street.
“All I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming,” he said.
Adonis Quita, who was with his 9-year-old son, told the AP that the vehicle struck families waiting in line for food.
“He just pushed the gas all the way through the whole block … crashing into everyone in his way,” another witness said on NBC’s “TODAY” show.
“Last night, as members of Vancouver’s Filipino community gathered for a celebration of community and culture in East Vancouver, their collective safety and security were stolen when a man in a vehicle drove through a festival,” the city’s interim police chief, Steve Rai, said Sunday.
Before the festival, police worked with the city to assess risks and found “no known threats to the event or to the Filipino community,” Rai explained. He said that, as a result, it was determined that police officers and heavy vehicle barricades were not necessary at the festival site.
Officials said they do not believe the attack was an act of terrorism.
