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VANCOUVER — A Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver was meant to be a daylong celebration of Filipino culture.
Less that 15 minutes after events were scheduled to wrap up, an SUV tore through the area behind a school filled with food trucks, killing at least 11 people.
Here is a timeline of the tragedy (all times Pacific):
Saturday 8 p.m. — The block party was scheduled to finished .
Saturday 8:14 p.m. — Police say a man driving a black Audi SUV approached the festival area from the west via East 43rd Avenue. The vehicle entered the food truck area and drove through the crowd.
Witness Nic Magtajas described an SUV roaring through at high speed.
“I saw a bunch of people go over, go high up from the impact of hitting the car,” said Magtajas, 19.
He and Jihed Issa were working at a store facing the festival and said they initially had their backs to the scene when they heard a car engine revving.
“People were screaming,” said Issa, 17.
“I ran outside to the street and I was trying to figure out what happened. I made it to halfway into the street, looked around (and) there was a lot of people panicking, people on the floor — bodies.”
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.
The province’s emergency health services say every available primary care and advanced care paramedic, along with multiple supervisors and special teams responded with more than 22 vehicles.
Emergency officials later reported that 26 people were taken to nine hospitals.
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Sunday midnight — Vancouver Police confirmed a mass casualty event and said several people had been killed. Police said a 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene.
Interim Chief Steve Rai told reporters at the scene that the man was alone and was “known to police in certain circumstances.”
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Sunday 3:05 a.m. — Police confirm nine people died in the attack.
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Sunday 9:30 a.m. — The death toll was raised to 11. Rai said the 30-year-old man arrested after the attack has a history of interactions with police as well as mental health professionals. The chief didn’t release the suspect’s name but said he’s confident terrorism was not a motive.
He said homicide investigators were presenting evidence to prosecutors who were to decide whether to lay criminal charges.
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Sunday 12:30 p.m. — Premier David Eby said it’s hard “not to feel rage” at the man reasonable for the attack, but said he wanted to turn the rage he feels into standing with the Filipino community.
“This event does not define us,” he said.
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Sunday 5 p.m. — BC Prosecution Service charged Adam Kai-Ji Lo, 30, with eight counts of second-degree murder after the attack that killed 11 people.
Police said Lo remains in custody “and further charges are anticipated.”
A statement from police said some of the victims remain unidentified.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025
The Canadian Press
