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.
