Driver plows through crowd in Vancouver, killing at least 9
"As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night's Lapu Lapu Festival," the Vancouver Police Department said in a statement on social media. "Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident."
The driver, a 30-year-old man who has not been officially named, drove through the Lapu Lapu Festival around 8 p.m. on Saturday and was taken into custody.
"At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism," police said in an earlier statement Sunday.
The Lapu Lapu Festival is a Filipino block party that honors Lapu-Lapu, the chieftain who led native forces in the defeat of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan at the Battle of Mactan in 1521, marking the first act of Filipino resistance to colonization.
The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver has set up a hotline for affected nationals and called the incident "horrific" while it was awaiting more information on what occurred.
Phillipine President Ferdinand "Bongbong Marcos expressed his sympathies to the families of the victims of the incident and the "thriving Filipino community in Canada," according to the Philippine Star newspaper.
"We are one with the families of the victims and the Filipino community in Vancouver during this difficult time," he said.
With terrorism ruled out, the cause of the incident remains unclear. It was not immediately known Sunday what charges the driver may face.
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Garcia, who Rivera said pulled the trigger, was sentenced to life in prison in 2019, as was Magbanua in her 2022 trial. Charlie Adelson was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2023. Luis Rivera: Rivera pled guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder in exchange for a 19-year sentence to run concurrently with a federal sentence on an unrelated case for his statements and cooperation with prosecutors. In 2019 he testified that he was with Garcia when Markel was murdered. Sigfredo Garcia: In October 2019, Sigfredo Garcia was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Katherine Magbanua: After her potential conviction as part of Garcia's trial was ruled a mistrial, Magbanua was tried again in 2022 and was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. She is currently serving life in prison. Charlie Adelson: A 12-person jury deliberated for three hours in November 2023 and found Adelson guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. Donna Adelson: A week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty, his parents Donna and Harvey were stopped in Miami International Airport trying to board a flight with one-way tickets to Vietnam, a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. What was Donna Adelson charged with? Donna Adelson was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in Markel's murder, the same charges her son Charlie was found guilty of by a jury in just three hours. What is the evidence against Donna Adelson? Much of the likely evidence has appeared in the previous trials. The Tallahassee Police Department suggested that Donna Adelson was a prime suspect in the Markel murder back in 2016 when TPD initially presented probable cause affidavits to the State Attorney's Office. At the time, State Attorney Willie Meggs dismissed them as speculation. Investigations over the next nine years revealed: Prosecutors said Donna and Harvey Adelson repeatedly tried to convince Wendi to coerce Markel into allowing her to move their sons to South Florida, with Donna suggesting they offer Markel $1 million to change his mind. Donna suggested that Wendi threaten to enroll the children of the devoutly Jewish Markel in a Catholic school, according to Donna Adelson's arrest affidavit. Markel also filed a motion to prevent Donna from having unsupervised time with the children after hearing about disparaging remarks she was making about him to the children. According to the arrest affidavit, cellular records showed "numerous contacts" between Magbanua, Charlie Adelson and Garcia before and after the killing, and contact between Garcia and a phone registered to Harvey Adelson. Charlie also frequently contacted Donna before and after Markel's death. Wendi Adelson told investigators the day of the murder that her brother had joked it would be cheaper to buy her a TV as a divorce gift than hire a hitman. From roughly 460 miles away, Donna arranged a television repair appointment for Wendi the morning of the homicide. At Charlie Adelson's trial, Magbanua testified that when she went to his home the night of the killing he told her his parents had just left, leaving behind money "that his mom had washed," the affidavit said. She said the money was damp and moldy. After the murder, Magbanua received more than $17,000 in paychecks from the Adelson's practice, handwritten and signed by Donna, from September 2014 to at least April 2016, prosecutors said, on top of her portion of the money for the killing and over $56,000 in cash. She also was sold Charlie Adelson's Lexus, which was registered to Harvey Adelson, for $1,700. In 2016, an undercover agent contacted Donna Adelson with a letter about the murder and demanded $5,000. She contacted Charlie to discuss the threat. In a later call, when Charlie asked what the letter was for, she said, "This TV is probably about five," meaning $5,000, according to the affidavit. After he visited both his parents for a huddled conversation, Charlie took Magbanua to the Dolce Vita restaurant to complain about the would-be blackmailer, what he knew, and what Charlie would do about it. That conversation was recorded and became key evidence in Charlie's trial. One of the things he told Magbanua was, "if they had any evidence we would have already gone to the airport." After the meeting, Charlie called Donna to report that he was handling everything. After another letter and a text were sent to Donna Adelson by investigators, there were multiple calls and meetings between Charlie and his parents. Donna called the undercover agent and denied all knowledge. Another of Charlie Adelson's girlfriends, June Umchinda, told the FBI that after Rivera and Garcia were charged with murder Charlie and Donna Adelson both seemed more stressed, and Donna told her that she felt "Dan Markel was haunting her from the grave," the affidavit said. After Charlie Adelson's guilty verdict, Donna called him in jail several times and told him she was "getting things in order, creating trusts, and making sure her grandchildren are taken care of," the affidavit said. She also discussed plans for suicide and plans to flee to a non-extradition country. On Nov. 7, 2023, Donna and Harvey Adelson booked one-way flights to Vietnam with a stop in Dubai, less than 48 hours before a grand jury was scheduled to meet that might have taken up her case. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Vietnam. Who will be taking the stand in the Donna Adelson trial? For the first time, all three Adelson children could take the stand. Wendi Adelson, whom the state considers an uncharged co-conspirator, will return to the stand and testify, under a limited immunity deal, as she has in all the previous trials. She has long denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder conspiracy in sometimes testy exchanges with prosecutors. There are indications that her oldest brother, Rob Adelson, who has been listed before as a state witness, will be called to the stand in his mother's trial. Charlie Adelson, who testified in his own defense last year that he was being extorted by the two killers through his then-girlfriend and that his mom was subsequently the victim of a ruse blackmail operation by the FBI, was transported from a South Dakota prison and booked Friday into the Leon County Detention Facility. He could potentially testify for the defense. It is unknown if Donna Adelson will take the stand in her own defense. Other key witnesses include Pat Sanford, the FBI agent who arrested Donna Adelson, and Oscar Jiminez, the retired FBI agent who posed as a Latin Kings gang buddy of Rivera when he confronted Donna Adelson outside her Miami condo. Have Harvey or Wendi Adelson been charged? Wendi Adelson, who has denied involvement with the murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not been charged. State Attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat that the state did not have the evidence to arrest Harvey Adelson, but had enough to arrest Donna Adelson. Her attempted flight overseas sped things up and pushed law enforcement 'to make a decision quickly,' Campbell said. 'That's what forced our hand,' Campbell said. "We started talking to some of our law enforcement partners about the complexities of trying to bring someone back from either Dubai or Vietnam. And that might be a very complicated and lengthy process. So that's why we had to make a decision quickly." The day after the arrest, investigators seized two phones and an iPad from Harvey Adelson. GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE: The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Donna Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict. Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jeff Burlew contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Who's Donna Adelson? What to know about new trial in Dan Markel murder
