Ottawa:
Canadian police detained a 30-year-old man and killed at least 11 people after his car crashed into a street party at a Philippine cultural celebration in Vancouver on Saturday. However, after a preliminary investigation, officers said the incident at the Lapu Lapu Day celebration at the city’s sunset in the Fraser area “is not a terrorist act.”
Authorities said the incident occurred shortly after local time at 8pm on Saturday (3am GMT on Sunday). Members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day – a festival commemorating the anti-colonial leaders of the Philippines in the 16th century.
“For now, we can confirm that nine people have died after a man ran through the crowd at last night’s Lapu Lapu Festival,” police said in X.
Witnesses said the man drove a black SUV through a street filled with people and slammed into party attendees lined up in food trucks.
A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police posted on X.
The driver was the “only suspect” known to police, a police spokesman told journalists at the scene. He also had a history of mental health issues, Canadian police said.
“At this point, I am confident that this incident is not a terrorist act,” Vancouver police said in early morning X on Sunday.
The suspect is “known to the police in certain circumstances,” the BBC reported, and he did not elaborate, but cited police chief Steve Lye.
“It would be inappropriate for me to enter into such details at this point,” Lai was quoted as saying. He added that it would be “unfair” to comment on whether a suspect is released on bail.
Before police arrived at the scene, the suspect was “detained by people in the crowd.”
Video posted online showed a black SUV with damaged hoods parked on a street strewn with debris, a metre of paramedics that corresponded to people lying on the ground.
Witness Dale Selipe told the Vancouver Sun that he saw injured children on the street after a car crashed into a crowd.
“There was a woman staring in her eyes. One of her legs was already broken. One was holding her hand and trying to comfort her,” Selipe told the newspaper.
Photos issued by Canadian broadcaster CBC showed emergency crews on the scene as well as large crowds at a block party early Saturday.
Festival security guard Jen Idaba Castaneto said local news site Vancouver had seen “body everywhere.”
“You don’t know who you’re going to help,” she said.
The Philippine Consulate in Vancouver said in a Facebook statement that it “expresses deep concern and sympathy for the victims of the horrifying incident.”
