Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy: Suspect named and charged with murder after car ramming kills 11 at Vancouver Filipino festival

At least 20 other people were injured after a car ploughed into a crowd at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival at 8pm on Saturday (26 April). Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the Vancouver Police Department. More charges are expected, officials said.

Earlier, the city’s interim police chief Steve Rai said the man arrested over the incident was known to law enforcement and mental health professionals before the incident. Mr Rai said the man in custody had “a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health” as police remained confident the incident was not an act of terrorism.

He called the incident the “darkest day in Vancouver’s history” and said it would be a “watershed moment” for operational changes in the city’s police department. Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney said the nation was left “shocked, devastated and heartbroken” and cancelled final rallies in Calgary, Richmond and British Columbia ahead of the federal election on Monday.

The “mass casualty event” at the Lapu Lapu festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street also injured more than 20 people. Lo was apprehended by bystanders at the scene, who detained him until police arrived and arrested him. “The charge assessment is ongoing and further charges are anticipated,” the police said.

Mayor Ken Sim also said Lo had a long history of interactions related to mental health with first responders. Lo did not have previous criminal charges against him, but a troubled family history. His brother was murdered last year, and Lo condemned the “senseless act of violence” when he launched a GoFundMe donation campaign.

His brother was found dead on 28 January 2024 in a home 2km from where the family lived, the Globe and Mail reported. A suspect in the case, Dwight William Kematch, 39, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

A few months later, in August, he reportedly again asked for donations, this time for his mother who had attempted suicide and needed hospitalization for a month. A relative of Lo had contacted a local hospital’s psychiatric ward barely hours before the attack because of his worsening mental health, Vancouver Sun reported.