Officials say driver in Vancouver festival attack had been under mental health team's care
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The man accused of barreling his sport-utility vehicle through a Filipino heritage festival crowd over the weekend, killing 11 people and injuring dozens, had been under the care of a mental health team before the attack, authorities said Tuesday.
Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, was being supervised by a team at Vancouver Coastal Health under the British Columbia Mental Health Act, which allows for involuntary treatment of those suffering from mental illness if they pose a danger to themselves or others, according to the province's Ministry of Health.
'There was no indication of violence in this individual's presentation to the VCH team,' the ministry said. 'To the care team's knowledge, there was no recent change in his condition or noncompliance with his treatment plan that would've warranted him needing to be hospitalized involuntarily.'
5 Vancouver Police forensics officers investigate the scene of a suspect vehicle and bodies of victims lying covered on the ground, after it drove into a crowd, killing and injuring multiple people in Vancouver, Canada April 27, 2025.
REUTERS
Here's what to know about the attack.
The victims included 3 members of a Colombian family
Three members of a family of Colombian immigrants have been identified among the 11 people killed. Vancouver resident Alejandro Samper said he was getting ready for work on Saturday night when he received a call from his sister's fiancé about a 'terrible accident,' and he rushed to the scene of the Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver.
His sister Glitza Daniela Samper, his mother Glitza Maria Caicedo and his father Daniel Samper had been struck and killed by an SUV that plowed through the crowd at the Filipino cultural event.
'I'm just destroyed,' Samper said Tuesday. 'My whole world's taken away from me.'
Samper said the family came to Canada in the early 2000s, in part to escape violence in Colombia, and he's now trying to understand what happened and why.
5 A policeman works at the site of a car striking incident in Vancouver, Canada, April 27, 2025.
Xinhua/Shutterstock
'My parents sacrificed everything in Colombia, their careers, their lifestyle, everything to give us a better future here in Canada,' he said. 'It just doesn't make any sense. Canada is supposed to be a safe place.'
Among the other victims were a 5-year-old girl and her parents. Some 16 people remained in hospitals Tuesday, health officials said. Seven were in critical condition and three in serious condition, including a 22-month-old, police said.
Investigators said Tuesday they are questioning some 200 witnesses and canvassing for surveillance video in a 25-block radius from the scene.
The attack puts a spotlight on mental health care
Lo has been charged for now with eight counts of second-degree murder. He has.a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health, according to Vancouver police, including one interaction in another jurisdiction the day before the attack.
5 People view a memorial for victims at the scene where a driver killed multiple people last week during a Filipino community festival Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
AP
Vancouver police spokesperson Steve Addison has declined to provide details about that encounter. But, he said, it was not criminal, did not appear to warrant involuntary mental health care, and he did not believe any information about it had been passed along to Vancouver police before Saturday's attack.
'In my experience it's not something that would warrant proactive outreach,' Addison said Tuesday.
Vancouver Coastal Health, one of five regional health authorities in British Columbia, confirmed in a written statement that Lo had been under care while on leave from a treatment facility as he transitioned back into the community. Such teams can return patients to a hospital if they fail to follow their treatment plans.
'There was no indication this person was not following their treatment plan or presented a public safety risk,' the statement said.
5 Rodolfo Urbano puts a lit candle at a vigil at 41st and Fraser street in Vancouver on April 27, 2025, a day after a car drove into a crowd during the Lapu Lapu Festival.
AFP via Getty Images
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he would order a public inquiry if the law enforcement investigation fails to provide full answers about Lo or about the events leading up to the attack.
In remarks to the legislature Tuesday he acknowledged the province needs an 'urgent expansion of mental health supports.' There are 2,000 beds in the province that are available for doctors and nurses to use the Mental Health Act to hold people involuntarily, he said.
The Filipino community reels from the attack
Members of Vancouver's rapidly growing Filipino community say the attack was all the more devastating for coming at an event that celebrated their culture and togetherness. The Lapu Lapu Day festival honors Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who fought back against Spanish explorers in the 16th century.
5 Sarah Edmilao views flowers at a growing memorial near a site the day after a driver killed multiple people during a Filipino festival Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
AP
'We felt … the whole day that it's a fun celebration, that people are happy being together,' said Bennet Miemban-Ganata, owner of the popular Plato Filipino restaurant in Vancouver, as she fought back tears during an interview. 'We were just there to have fun, to know that we have each other in a foreign land.'
RJ Aquino, chair of the nonprofit Filipino BC, which promotes Filipino Canadian heritage, described it as a festival designed to share their culture. Plus, he said, 'Everybody also just loves having a big party.'
'The Filipino community knows how to be resilient,' Aquino said. 'How that manifests this time around — from a tragedy we've never experienced, on a scale like this — we're going to see how it plays out, and I'm going to make sure we come out of this stronger.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
ICE arrests record number of immigrants in single day, including hundreds at scheduled appointments
Immigration and Customs Enforcement made the most immigrant arrests in a single day in its history Tuesday, detaining more than 2,200 people, according to a source familiar with the arrests and an ICE spokesperson who confirmed the numbers, as the agency responds to pressure from the White House to rapidly and dramatically increase arrests. Hundreds of the people who were arrested had been enrolled in ICE's Alternative to Detention (ATD) program, three sources familiar with the arrests said. Under the program, ICE releases undocumented immigrants who are deemed not to be threats to public safety and then keeps track of them through ankle monitors, smartphone apps or other geolocating programs, along with periodic check-ins at ICE facilities. At least some of the arrests appear to be the result of a new ICE tactic: Immigration attorneys across the country told NBC News that some of their clients on ATD were asked in a mass text message ICE sent out to show up ahead of schedule for check-ins at ICE offices, only to be arrested when they arrived. An NBC News reporter saw seven people who had come for check-ins at a New York City ICE office Wednesday being led out in cuffs and put into unmarked cars. One, a 30-year-old Colombian man, was followed close behind by his wife, who was sobbing loudly, and his daughter, who tried to chase after him as law enforcement agents in masks led him and two other men in handcuffs into waiting vehicles. Margaret Cargioli, the directing attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, who represents the family, told reporters afterward that the man had gone 'to every single [ICE] appointment. He was, you know, very cooperative with all of the requirements that were made of him.' Veronica Navarrete was waiting outside the immigration office for a friend, an asylum-seeker from Ecuador, who had been told to report to the office Wednesday. She told NBC News she had seen immigrants pacing outside the building all day, some of them seeming to her to be contemplating whether to show up for their appointments at all. 'If you enter, there's a possibility that they'll take you into custody,' she said. 'And if you don't enter, you've missed your appointment, and that's automatic deportation. We have no way out.' About the arrests of immigrants with ankle monitors who were reporting for appointments, the ICE spokesperson said, 'Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.' Asked for clarification, as multiple lawyers who have spoken with NBC News said their clients did not have final orders of removal, the spokesperson did not immediately respond. The White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, threatened in a meeting with ICE leadership last month to fire senior officials if the agency does not start making 3,000 arrests per day, according to two sources who spoke to attendees. President Donald Trump has promised to deport 'millions,' while his border 'czar,' Tom Homan, has said the administration will focus on deporting the 'worst of the worst.' But former ICE officials say it will not be possible for ICE to hit the numbers Trump that has talked about and that it is under increasing demands to reach quickly while it focuses only on people with criminal histories. As of late last month, more than 20,000 ankle monitors were in use by ICE, according to ICE data. According to the same data, 98.5% of people on ATD appear for their check-ins, making them easy targets as ICE moves to increase its arrest numbers. '[With] mass arresting of people on Alternatives to Detention or at their ICE check ins or at immigration court hearings, the dragnet is so wide that there's no possible valid argument that could be made that these individuals are all dangerous,' said Atenas Burrola Estrada, an attorney with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. Greg Chen, the senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he is hearing that more immigrant clients are afraid to show up in court or at check-ins out of fear they will be arrested. 'People are now increasingly afraid and intimidated because of the way that ICE is executing these kinds of enforcement priorities on such a widespread, indiscriminate and mass scale.' Chen said. NBC News has reported that ICE has boosted its manpower by drawing on over 5,000 employees from other federal law enforcement agencies to increase arrests as part of a new nationwide crackdown. But not every arrest leads to a deportation. Particularly when immigrants have pending asylum claims or appeals, they may not be able to be deported until their cases are heard by immigration judges. 'ICE arresting people already on Alternatives to Detention is bureaucratic theater,' said Jason Houser, who was chief of staff at ICE during the Biden administration. 'These individuals are vetted, complying and are in custody supervision and often have legal status.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Intruder Arrested at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort
Originally appeared on E! Online had an unexpected visitor at his Mar-a-Lago resort. During the early hours of June 3, Anthony Reyes, a 23-year-old man from Texas, attempted to break into the president's beach club in Palm Beach, Florida. 'An adult male was arrested early Tuesday morning by the Palm Beach Police Department for unlawfully entering the Mar-A-Lago Club property in Florida,' a spokesperson for the Secret Service told E! News in a June 4 statement. 'Shortly after midnight, the individual scaled a perimeter fence and triggered alarms.' 'U.S. Secret Service personnel detained him without incident at the scene,' the statement continued. 'Palm Beach Police officers responded to the scene and took the individual into custody, charging him with occupied trespassing.' Officials also confirmed that, at the time of the incident, 'no Secret Service protectees were present.' But once police arrived on the scene, Reyes allegedly told them, per a police report obtained by NBC News, that his goal in trespassing was to 'spread the gospel' to Trump and to 'marry' his 18-year-old granddaughter Kai Trump. More from E! Online 16 and Pregnant Star Whitney Purvis' Son Weston Gosa Dead at 16 Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Daughter Gracie Celebrates Queer Identity in Pride Month Post Ellen Pompeo Detained for Hour by TSA and Bomb Squad Over Erewhon Sunflower Seeds Reyes—who was also previously arrested for trespassing on the same property during New Year's Eve, per the police report—was then detained at the Palm Beach County Jail with bond set at $50,000 and an order to avoid contact with Trump or any of his family members. For her part, Kai—the eldest of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife Vanessa Trump's five kids—has never been shy in showing her support for her grandfather. During the president's January inauguration, she even shared a behind-the-scenes look into her family's celebrations. 'Thank you all for the support the past decade,' Kai said onstage at Trump's Jan. 19 rally in Arlington, as seen in a video posted to her YouTube channel, 'we're looking forward to the next few years and God bless America.' And along with showing her support for her grandpa during the inauguration events, Kai had been proudly celebrating the 47th president's victory since his election win. 'For America and I think for our family, I think it's just so important that he won,' she said in later on in the vlog. 'I think these next four years are going to be the best four years America has had in a very long time.' For more about the Trump family, keep reading. (E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.) Ivana TrumpDonald Trump TrumpEric TrumpMarla MaplesTiffany TrumpMelania TrumpBarron Trump For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Crew hired for ship with largest cocaine seizure were under ‘financial pressure'
Several men hired by an international organised crime group in Dubai to crew a ship with the largest cocaine seizure in Irish history were under financial pressure and succumbed to the temptation to earn thousands, a court has heard. The Special Criminal Court in Dublin heard the circumstances of how the men became involved in the massive drug trafficking operation on the MV Matthew, which was found to be carrying more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine in September 2023. Eight men admitted their roles in trying to smuggle cocaine worth over 157 million euros (£132 million). The ship was intercepted and seized following a massive joint Defence Forces, garda and customs operation. The Irish Army Ranger Wing has been praised in court for putting their lives at risk when they boarded the vessel in severe weather conditions while the crew attempted to steer the ship to high seas. Six of the men arrested on board the MV Matthew had ignored repeated warnings from the LE William Butler Yeats naval vessel. Two other men were rescued from a boat that was bought in Castletownbere, which had been purchased to collect drugs from the main vessel. Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk and Vitaliy Vlasoi, both 32; Iranians Soheil Jelveh and Saeid Hassani, 39; Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, and Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 49, all pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on board the MV Mathew between 24 and 26 September 2023. Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply between 21 and 25 September 2023. Jamie Harbron, aged 31, of South Avenue, Billingham in the UK, also pleaded guilty that on a date between September 21 and September 25, 2023, both dates inclusive, he attempted to have cocaine in his possession for the purpose of sale or supply, an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Colman Cody SC, counsel for Lapa, told the sentence hearing that his client was not aware of the full scale of the operation and did not have full knowledge of the operation or the structures of the criminal organisation. The married father-of-two was told he would be paid 5,000 euros for his involvement in the operation. Lapa had been in the merchant navy and had previously worked on fishing boats. He had recently retired and was a pensioner in Ukraine. Detective Superintendent Keith Halley agreed that Lapa was at the lower end of the structure. Estoesta was the second officer on board the vessel, who said he had met some of the crew in Venezuela. The court heard how some members of the hired crew were distracted at night while those from the criminal enterprise had loaded some of the cargo containing drugs on to the vessel. They claimed that they had been entertained with alcohol while the so-called spare parts were being transferred on to the ship. Estoesta admitted he was concerned it was more than spare parts, as he saw armed men on the other ship, which was offloading the large cargo. He said he didn't argue as he was terrified and was alone in the ocean. He thought the cargo may have contained contraband, like weapons or cigarettes. His barrister, Michael Hourigan, said that he had a genuine fear of the consequences if he did not follow orders. Vlasoi, a 33-year-old sailor, became involved in the operation after he was contacted when he posted his sailing credentials online. The court heard that he is married with a five-year-old child, who is now living in Ireland with the accused's mother. Paul O'Higgins SC for Vlasoi told the court that his client's 'realisation' of the situation came too late when he discovered that the enterprise was being run at a higher level by people not on the ship. He told gardai that there were outside forces in control. He was told he would be paid 5,000 euros for his part in the operation. Mr O'Higgins said that his client found himself in a vulnerable financial position as he tried to provide for his family during the war in Ukraine. Hassani, a third officer on board the vessel, qualified from maritime college in 2009 and had been at sea constantly for over a decade. Mark Lyam SC, for the 40-year-old, told the court he is married with a six-year-old daughter, and that he had financial responsibility to provide for his family, including medical care. Mr Lyam said he succumbed to temptation because of that financial pressure and wanting to spend more time with his family. The court was also told that he sent a text to someone in Dubai thanking them for the opportunity. Hassani, who was airlifted from the boat, was described as being the lowest rank in terms of officers. Meanwhile, Michael O'Higgins SC, counsel for Harbron, described his client as a drug abuser who was 'induced' into the operation to clear a drug debt. Described as being a last-minute entry into the enterprise, he was offered a 10,000 euro reduction on his drug debt of 20,000 euros. From Scotland, the court heard how Harbron, who was on board the second ship, the Castlemor, had no sailing experience, was not able to operate the radio and was not able to locate the life vest on board. Mr O'Higgins said he had no role in organising, financing or giving directions. Harbron suspected the cargo on board the larger vessel was drugs, but he said he was shocked when he saw the size of it. Brendan Grehan SC, counsel for Dutch national Ozgen, admitted to having loaded three crates of drugs onto the vessel and also played a part in trying to burn drugs by getting paint thinners. He said he expected to earn a bonus of between 50,000 euros and 100,000 euros. Mr Grehan said that Ozgen, who had no sailing experience, has a son with a serious health issue following an operation on a brain tumour. 'It was partly the attraction in terms of getting involved in that he would get money to help (his son) out,' Mr Grehan added. He told the court that his client was involved in a misguided attempt to get money for his family. Keivon Sotoodeh, junior counsel for Jelveh, told the court that his client is a 51-year-old with two adult children. Mr Sotoodeh said Jelveh was simply following orders and accepts he got himself involved in this, however, he 'wasn't at the top of the food chain'. The matter has been put back to July 4. The men have been remanded on the same terms and conditions.
