27 Apr 2025 02:33PM (Updated: 27 Apr 2025 04:38PM)
MONTREAL: Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday (Apr 26) after a car plowed into a street party in the western city of Vancouver killing a number of people.
Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm on Saturday (Sunday, 8am, Singapore time) in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day.
The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election.
A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police posted on X.
The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the scene.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a post on social media platform X that he was “devastated” by the “horrific events”.
“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 said.
“We are all mourning with you.”
According to Vancouver police, “a number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured” in the tragedy.
Footage posted online and verified by AFP shows a black SUV with a damaged hood parked on a street littered with debris, metres from first aiders tending to people lying on the ground.
Photos published by Canadian broadcaster CBC showed emergency crews at the scene as well as large crowds at the block party earlier on Saturday.
Festival security guard Jen Idaba-Castaneto told local news site Vancouver Is Awesome that she saw “bodies everywhere”.
“You don’t know who to help, here or there. It’s so shocking,” she said.
British Columbia premier David Eby said he was “shocked & heartbroken” by the news, while city mayor Ken Sim said “our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time”.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families – and Vancouver’s Filipino community,” Jagmeet Singh, leader of the left-wing New Democratic Party said on X.
ELECTION SEASON
Saturday’s event featured a parade, a film screening, dancing and a concert, with two members of the Black Eyed Peas featured on the lineup published by the organisers.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of indigenous chief Lapulapu, who led his men to defeat Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.
The deadly incident comes a year after Canadian Nathaniel Veltman was sentenced to life in prison for running down a Muslim family with his truck on the street in London, Ontario in 2021.
The ruling in Veltman’s case was the first in Canada to link white supremacy and terrorism in a murder case.
Canadians go to the polls on Monday after an frenetic election race where candidates have wooed voters on issues including rising living costs and tackling United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Carney is favored to win after assuring voters he can stand up to Washington’s barrage of sweeping tariffs.
His Liberal Party trailed the Conservatives by more than 20 points in most polls on Jan 6, the day former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to resign.