Suspect charged after car ramming kills 11 at Vancouver festival

Murder charges have been filed against a suspect in a car ramming that killed 11 people at a Filipino street festival in Canada’s Vancouver city, Al Jazeera reports citing prosecutors.

The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, on Sunday evening with eight counts of second-degree murder and said more charges were possible.

Lo, a Vancouver resident who has a history of mental health issues, appeared in court and remains in custody, prosecutors said.

Investigators have ruled out terrorism as a motive for the car ramming that killed 11 people between the ages of 5 and 65 attending the Lapu Lapu Festival in the city’s Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood on Saturday evening.

Dozens of people were injured in the attack and several remain in critical condition, according to officials.

Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said earlier that the suspect had a “significant history” of interaction with police and mental healthcare professionals.

Rai told a news conference that the suspect was arrested at the scene of the attack after initially being apprehended by bystanders.

Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.

“I’m sorry,” the man says, holding his hand to his head.

Rai declined to comment on the video but said the person in custody was a “lone male” who was “known to police in certain circumstances”.

Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9 percent of the city’s total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census.

The Lapu Lapu Festival commemorates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century.