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VANCOUVER — Vancouver is waking to the tragic aftermath of a deadly ramming attack on a Filipino community street festival that killed at least nine people, with survivors describing horrifying scenes of victims strewn on the ground.
Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai says a 30-year-old Vancouver man has been arrested for Saturday night’s attack in which an SUV plowed through a crowded South Vancouver street at high speed.
Vancouver Police say on social media platform X that they are “confident” the incident was not an act of terrorism, and the death toll stands at nine as of 3 a.m. Sunday.
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The Filipino-Canadian Association of Saskatchewan Inc. put out a statement saying its thoughts and prayers are with the Vancouver Filipino Community following the tragedy.
Rai says multiple people were also injured but the exact number of casualties won’t be released until families have been notified.
Carayn Nulada says she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the black SUV that roared through the middle of the crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival just after 8 p.m.
She says the children’s mother — who is her own daughter — suffered a narrow escape when the SUV clipped her arm.
Nulada says her daughter was able to get back up, and her injuries were minor, but all around her were other victims scattered on the ground.
“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.
“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”
Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency room early Sunday morning, trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones.
Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle and said he was stable but would be facing surgery.
Witnesses of the attack described bodies being sent flying by impact with the SUV.
Videos captured the aftermath, including wreckage and victims scattered across a long stretch of road after the attack, that police said took place around East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street.
The department said a 24-hour assistance centre had been established at the Douglas Park Community Centre, on West 22nd Avenue.
“Vancouver Police officers and victim services professionals have been deployed to help anyone who has not been able to contact a loved one who was at the Lapu Lapu (Festival),” VPD said on X.
Political leaders expressed dismay at the incident, with Liberal Leader Mark Carney saying on social media platform X that he was “devastated to hear about the horrific events.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he was shocked by news of the “senseless attack,” while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who had earlier been at the festival, said he was “horrified.”
Members of the Filipino community turned up at Vancouver General Hospital to support victims’ families.
Lourdes Venegas and her friend Teresita Landingin were having dinner at a restaurant when they heard of the attack.
“So, we decided we would just come just in case there is anything that we could do to help our countrymen and as well as the staff here,” said Venegas.
The comforted the Nulada family, placing their hands on their knees and praying.
Lapu Lapu Day is named after an Indigenous resistance fighter in the Philippines who fought against Spanish colonization in the 16th Century.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025.
Nono Shen and Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press
