Vancouver police safe the scene after a automobile drove right into a crowd on the Lapu Lapu Pageant in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday.
Wealthy Lam/The Canadian Press by way of AP
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Wealthy Lam/The Canadian Press by way of AP
VANCOUVER — The motive force of a automobile struck revelers at a avenue competition in Canada, killing and injuring an unknown variety of individuals on the occasion celebrating Filipino tradition, police mentioned.
The automobile entered the road at 8:14 p.m. Saturday the place individuals have been attending the Lapu Lapu Day competition, the Vancouver Police Division mentioned in a social media put up.
“Numerous individuals have been killed and a number of others are injured after a driver drove right into a crowd,” police mentioned. The precise variety of useless or injured was not instantly obtainable.
A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested on the scene and the division’s Main Crime Part is overseeing the investigation, police mentioned.
“Right now, we’re assured that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” the police division posted early Sunday.
The competition was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media confirmed victims and particles strewn throughout an extended stretch of highway, with a minimum of seven individuals mendacity motionless on the bottom. A black SUV with a crumpled entrance part may very well be seen in nonetheless images from the scene.
James Cruzat, a Vancouver enterprise proprietor, was on the occasion and heard a automobile rev its engine after which “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought is likely to be a gunshot.
“We noticed individuals on the highway crying, others have been like operating, shouting, and even screaming, asking for assist. So we tried to go there simply to verify what was actually truly taking place till we discovered some our bodies on the bottom. Others have been lifeless, others like, you recognize, injured,” Cruzat mentioned.
“It was horrible to see that type of incident, that state of affairs. It was heartbreaking,” Cruzat mentioned. “I could not even think about that it is truly taking place in actual life, as a result of usually we see that on TVs or motion pictures. However when you’re in that sort state of affairs, it was actually surprising. Like, you could not suppose actually, very well. You could not do something however to wish for them.”
Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim mentioned in a social media put up that the town would supply extra info when doable.
“I’m shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at as we speak’s Lapu Lapu Day occasion,” Sim mentioned. “Our ideas are with all these affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino neighborhood throughout this extremely tough time.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney and different Canadian political figures posted messages expressing shock on the violence, condolences for victims and assist for the neighborhood celebrating its heritage on the competition.
“I provide my deepest condolences to the family members of these killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian neighborhood, and to everybody in Vancouver. We’re all mourning with you,” Carney wrote.
“As we wait to study extra, our ideas are with the victims and their households — and Vancouver’s Filipino neighborhood, who have been coming collectively as we speak to have fun resilience,” wrote Jagmeet Singh, chief of the New Democratic Occasion, who was on the competition earlier within the day.
“My ideas are with the Filipino neighborhood and all of the victims focused by this mindless assault. Thanks to the primary responders who’re on the scene as we wait to listen to extra,” Conservative Occasion chief Pierre Poilievre wrote.
David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province the place Vancouver is situated, mentioned he was shocked and heartbroken. “We’re in touch with the Metropolis of Vancouver and can present any assist wanted,” Eby wrote.
