At least 11 people killed after a car plowed into a crowd at the Vancouver Filipino festival

A driver plowed into a group of partygoers attending a Filipino street festival on Saturday evening in Vancouver, British Columbia, killing at least 11 people, the city’s interim police chief said, adding that there may be deaths among the “dozens” of people who were injured. Police are calling it "the darkest day" in the city's history.

Some of those attending the festival helped chase down and detain the suspect, who police identified as a 30-year-old man who had a history of mental health-related interactions with authorities.

Investigators have ruled out terrorism as a motivation, Vancouver police said in an email early Sunday, but did not provide any other information. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who described the incident as a “car-ramming attack,” said that federal national security officials “do not believe that there is any active threat to Canadians.”

The event on Saturday was intended as a celebration of culture and diversity, marking Lapu Lapu Day, an annual festival organized by British Columbia’s Filipino community and commemorating an Indigenous leader who fought against Spanish colonization.

News agencies broadcast photographs of what seemed to be a black SUV with considerable front-end damage and airbags deployed.

The incident occurred just after 8 p.m. local time, when a man drove a black Audi SUV into a huge throng of people enjoying the Lapu Lapu Day Festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street," police said. The male suspect, who is from Vancouver, was apprehended on the site.

Rai stated that the suspect was assumed to have operated alone, was the sole occupant of the car, and is still in custody. Police are not naming the suspect since he has not yet been charged.

The investigation, overseen by the Vancouver authorities Department's Major Crime Section, is ongoing, and authorities have encouraged the public to contact them if they have any information regarding the event.

The event occurred shortly after Apl.de.ap, a Filipino American rapper and founding member of the Black Eyed Peas, ended a concert performance at the festival on the grounds of a high school.

Authorities had conducted a risk assessment prior to the festival, which was largely held on the grounds of a school that was not directly accessible through public roads, Rai said, adding that they found no “threats to the event or to the Filipino community,” and decided that police officers and heavy vehicle barricades would not be deployed on site.

“While I’m confident the joint risk assessment and public safety plan was sound, we will be working with our partners at the City of Vancouver to review all of the circumstances surrounding the planning of this event,” the interim police chief said.

The organizers of the street festival, a community group called Filipino BC, wrote in a statement on Instagram following the fatal incident: “We are still finding the words to express the deep heartbreak brought on by this senseless tragedy. We are devastated for the families and victims.”

The event occurred less than 48 hours before the federal elections in Canada. When reporters inquired if the event was linked to the elections, Mr. Rai responded, "I don't know anything about that."

This was Canada's first vehicle-related mass homicide since 2021, when a far-right fanatic drove a pickup truck into five members of a Muslim family in London, Ontario, killing four of them. A judge found that the individual was motivated by white nationalist ideology and that the killings constituted an act of terror.

In 2018, a guy in Toronto drove a leased vehicle to hit and murder 11 pedestrians while injuring another 15. The majority of the casualties were women.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines said in a statement on Sunday that he was “completely shattered to hear about the terrible incident” in Vancouver, and he expressed his “deepest sympathies” to the families of the victims.