Vancouver police say more charges are expected in the coming days and weeks in connection to the fatal Lapu Lapu festival attack.
Sgt. Steve Addison said Monday (April 28) that the department is anticipating additional charges in the April 26 attack, acknowledging that 11 people were killed and only eight charges approved so far. Eleven people were killed and another two dozen were left injured after a man drove an SUV into the crowd of people celebrating the Lapu Lapu Day festival near Fraser Street and East 43rd Avenue on Saturday.
Police announced Sunday evening that 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo is facing eight counts of second-degree murder. He appeared in court and remained in custody as of Sunday evening.
Lo was arrested at the scene of the attack Saturday.
Addison said Lo has "had previous interactions with police and medical professionals related to mental health." He added the accused did have contact with police in a neighbouring jurisdiction on April 25, but it was not criminal in nature and mental health intervention wasn't required.
He said he couldn't release more information.
Addison said of the people killed, nine were women and two were men. The victims lived in communities throughout Metro Vancouver. Police have yet been able to confirm the residence of one of the victims, but next of kin have been identified for all 11 killed.
He said police, in time, will release the names of the victims, but Vancouver police is taking a victim-centred, trauma-informed approach. But Addison acknowledged that some families have already disclosed the names of those killed.
Of those injured, seven remain in critical condition in hospital and three remain in serious condition. The youngest victim is a five-year-old girl, while the oldest is a 65-year-old man.
"These are incredibly hard days," Addison said.
He said people have seen incidents like these happen elsewhere in the country and around the world.
"It has never happened to us here and it has absolutely shaken our community to its core."
Lapu Lapu Day is an annual celebration by the Filipino community to honour Indigenous resistance fighter Datu Lapu-Lapu, who defeated Spanish forces led by Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th Century.
Filipinos make up the third-largest cultural group in B.C., with roughly 174,000 people in British Columbia who identified as Filipino in the 2021 census.
Addison said police will provide more information Tuesday and will continue throughout the week, as long as there is relevant information to share and media have questions.
More to come.
