Police investigate a “mass incident” in which “several People were killed “after a car was taken to a crowd in Vancouver.
Canadian city authorities said “several others” had been injured in the incident, which occurred about 20:14 Local time Saturday (03:14 GMT Sunday) during a street festival.
Police said that a 30 -year -old male suspect was in detention and that he was “convinced that this incident was not an act of terrorism”. We don’t know how many people have been killed.
Police said the suspect went to pedestrians at the Lapu Lapu Festival, which celebrates Philippine Culture, east of the 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver.
Steve Rai, Vancouver police manager, told a press conference that there had been a vehicle and a suspect involved in the incident. He said more details would be published in the morning.
The owner of a catering truck selling Bao buns at the festival, Yoseb Vardeh, told the BBC global service that the attack had taken place just in front of his van.
“This guy, he killed some of my clients,” he said. “There were people waiting for their buns that were affected.”
Mr. Vardeh added: “I got out of my catering truck and I just saw bodies under the restoration trucks of people, husbands shouting for their wives or children … It was simply horrible.”
Uncorified images published on social networks have shown a number of police, ambulances and firefighters on the scene, with injured people lying on the ground.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared in a statement on X that he was “devastated to hear about horrible events from the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver”.
He continued: “I offer my greatest condolences to those close to those who are killed and injured, to the Canadian Philippine community and everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you.”
He also thanked the emergency speakers for their “fast action”.
The mayor of Vancouver, Ken Sim “Thoughts are with all those affected and with the Philippine Community of Vancouver during this incredibly difficult period.”
One of the municipal councilors of Vancouver, Peter Fry, told the BBC that local residents had trouble dealing with what had happened.
“This celebration was a huge, fun, dynamic and family street festival, and it was a fantastic event. To see it, it becomes so horrible so quickly and unexpectedly, I think our entire city is in shock,” he said.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated each year in the Philippines on April 27 to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonization.
The festival was officially set up in Vancouver in 2023. Its website says that it “symbolizes cultural harmony and mutual respect that thrive in the province of British Columbia”.
In the wake of the attack, The leaders of different political parties also shared condolence messages.
Pierre Poilievre, head of the Conservative Party of Canada, described the incident of “insane attack”, while the leader of the Democratic Party of the new Democrat in British Columbia, David Eby, said that he was “shocked and with a broken heart”.
The leader of the Democratic Party Jagmeet Singh – who had attended the festival but was not present when the incident occurred – said he was “horrified to learn” that innocent had been killed and injured.
“While we are waiting to find out more, our thoughts concern the victims and their families-and the Philippine Community of Vancouver, which met today to celebrate resilience,” he added.
Singh, Hairyvre and Carney are all presented in the Canada Federal Elections on Monday. The district of Singh de Burnaby Central is just in the east of the place where the incident took place.
