Ottawa:
Several deaths are being reported from the Canadian city of Vancouver after a driver ran over a crowd at a street festival. The local police said the incident occurred around 8 pm (local time). The incident happened as members of the Filipino community gathered in large numbers to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day in the city’s Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood. The driver has been taken into custody, police said.
“A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove into a crowd at a street festival at E. 41st Avenue and Fraser shortly after 8 p.m. tonight. The driver is in custody. We will provide more information as the investigation unfolds,” said Vancouver Police.
Police have so far not confirmed if it was a car attack or an accident.
Eyewitnesses told local media outlets that a black SUV ploughed through the festival at speed, hitting multiple people as it drove through the crowds. They said the driver of the car appeared to be a young Asian man, and appeared to be mentally challenged.
Several videos of the horrific incident have surfaced on social media, showing bodies lying on the street after the car attack, as emergency crews raced to attend to those still alive.
Initial reports of several killed and over a dozen injured, after an SUV plowed into a closed-off street filled with people celebrating the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver, Canada. pic.twitter.com/cLQQPfOMCq
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 27, 2025
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.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he is “devastated” to learn about the events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you. We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action,” he wrote on X.
Vancouver’s Mayor Ken Sim said, “I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event.”
“Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time,” he added.
Canada’s Opposition leader, NDP’s Jagmeet Singh, was at the Lapu Lapu Day event in Vancouver before the incident took place. Later, he said he was “horrified to learn” that “innocent people” had been killed and injured.
“As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families – and Vancouver’s Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience,” he told local media.
New Democratic MP Don Davies also tweeted about the ‘horrendous attack’, saying he was ‘praying for all the victims and their families’.
“Just heard the tragic news of the horrendous attack at the Lapu Lapu festival. I am praying for all the victims and their families,” he said.
About Lapu Lapu Festival
The festival commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, which falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. The event featured a parade, a film screening, dancing and a concert, with two members of the Black Eyed Peas featured on the lineup published by the organisers.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated in the Philippines in remembrance of indigenous chief Lapulapu, who led his men to defeat Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.
The deadly incident comes a year after Canadian Nathaniel Veltman was sentenced to life in prison for running down a Muslim family with his truck on the street in Ontario in 2021.
The ruling in Veltman’s case was the first in Canada to make a link between white supremacy and terrorism in a murder case.
