
How people witnessed the ‘darkest day in Vancouver' when a car slammed into a crowded festival
Like a car racing
It sounded 'like an F1 car about to start a race,' followed immediately by screams, clothing vendor Kris Pangilinan recalled. He said he will never forget the sound of bodies hitting the hood of the black Audi SUV as it rammed into the crowd.
Advertisement
'All I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming,' Pangilinan said. 'It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.'
Adonis Quita pulled his 9-year-old son out of the way as the SUV plowed into the line of families waiting for their food.
For the young boy, who had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines, the festival celebrating British Columbia's large Filipino population was his first taste of home away from home. But now, his father said the boy cannot close his eyes without seeing flashbacks of bloody bodies, some as young as age 5, hitting the pavement.
Advertisement
The 'darkest day in Vancouver's history'
A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene after initially being apprehended by bystanders. The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second degree murder on Sunday and said more charges were possible.
Investigators ruled out terrorism in what Interim Police Chief Steve Rai proclaimed 'the darkest day in Vancouver's history.' Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the suspect has a 'significant history of mental health issues.'
As Quita rushed his son away from the commotion, he said he was comforted to see festivalgoers circle the SUV and subdue the suspect. Video circulating on social media shows a man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.
'I'm sorry,' the man responds, holding his hand to his head.
Bodies covered in white tarps lined the row of food trucks as ambulances rushed injured people to the hospital. The victims range in age from 5 to 65, Rai said.
'Those families are living every family's nightmare,' Prime Minister Mark Carney said. The car ramming occurred two days before the country's federal election Monday.
Uncertainty for the injured
Carayn Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital's emergency room early Sunday morning trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones. Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle. He was stable but needed surgeries.
Nulada used her body to shield her granddaughter and grandson from the SUV as it barreled by. Her daughter, meanwhile, was struck in the arm and fell down but was able to get up quickly. The family recalled children screaming and pale-faced victims lying on the ground.
Advertisement
Of the more than two dozen injured, some remain in critical condition and others have not yet been identified, Rai said late Sunday.
Emily Daniels, 41, came to lay a bouquet at a vigil in Vancouver Sunday evening that drew hundreds of people. She saw a man who was injured in the attack when she was visiting her uncle at the hospital Sunday morning. The man was being rolled into the intensive care unit and still had blood on his arms, she said.
A scene 'straight out of a horror movie'
Others who attended the festival are struggling to process the trauma.
Mohamad Sariman had been helping at his wife's food truck when he heard a loud boom that he initially thought was an explosion. He looked out the truck's window and saw a disfigured body on the ground. When he and his wife opened the door, he said they saw another body.
'It was really, really traumatic,' Sariman said.
Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the festival with his girlfriend after 8 p.m. when he saw fire trucks and police officers rushing to where the festival was being held. They decided to circle back to see what was going on. He said they saw people crying as he approached, then bodies on the ground when they arrived at the scene.
'It was horrible to see,' Reynon said. 'It was like something straight out of a horror movie or a nightmare.'
Lorena Sales, 17, similarly ran back to the festival from the bus stop when she saw ambulances rushing to the scene. She and her friends arrived to find a sea of bodies laying in the street. The image of a woman who had her skull crushed in the collision is burned into Sales' memory, she said.
Advertisement
A community in mourning
Vancouver's Filipino community had been celebrating Lapu Lapu Day, which honors the Indigenous chieftain Datu Lapu-Lapu, who stood up to Spanish explorers when they arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century. Organizers of the Vancouver event said he 'represents the soul of Native resistance.'
Community members gathered at Vancouver's Filipino Fellowship Baptist Church on Sunday to mourn those who died in the attack and pray for the injured. Hundreds laid bouquets and lit candles at a vigil later Sunday.
'It hurts, it really hurts to see that someone could do this to a community of mine that's known to be so kind and caring,' Sales said through tears.
Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter brought flowers to the vigil after attending the festival the night before. She said police had to escort them through the crime scene so they could get back to their car, and that they were shocked by what they saw: a dented and bloodied SUV, and bodies on the ground.
'Now we're just here supporting our community, trying to help my daughter process what we saw yesterday, trying to be there for the Filipino community that has been there for us so much,' Nairn said as she wiped away tears.
Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writers Jim Morris in Vancouver and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado Aide on Leave Following Anti-Ice Protest Arrest
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado Aide on Leave Following Anti-Ice Protest Arrest originally appeared on L.A. Mag. An aide to Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado has been put on unpaid leave following their arrest at an anti-ICE protest. 'My office is aware that a member of my staff has been arrested. The allegations are deeply concerning and I take them very seriously,' Jurado said in a statement provided to LA Mag. According to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department inmate records, Luz Aguilar was arrested around 7 p.m. on June 9 for suspicion of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon. Their twin sister, Antonia Aguilar, was also arrested, and they were being held in lieu of the $50,000 bail. Aguilar had been the deputy of community growth and economic innovation for Jurado. Last year during her campaign for the City Council seat she now occupies, Yurado — who declared herself an abolitionist who would get rid of the LAPD in a Democratic Socialist of America questionnaire — was criticized when she was recorded saying "Fuck the Police." Serving District 14, she represents Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, Boyle Heights and downtown. Yurado took office in December 2024 and became the first person of Filipino descent on the city council. 'While I respect the individual's right to due process, I hold my team to the highest standards of conduct,' Jurado also said. 'They have been placed on unpaid leave while we assess the facts and consider appropriate action.' When ICE raids began on June 6, Jurado spoke to a crowd outside City Hall, reflecting on the 'heinous' acts of the federal government 'to inflict fear and suffering' during Pride Month and graduation celebrations. 'Make no mistake, this was not a coincidence. It was a deliberate act and a calculated attempt to take joy from our communities, to replace celebration with anxiety,' she said. 'What kind of government plans this violence during our most sacred moments of joy? The footage speaks for itself. This is cruelty disguised as policy. Any notion that this is about public safety is a deluded lie.' Aguilar is also the child of Pasadena Councilmember Rick Cole, who has been in attendance at protests. 'It's a loud, but entirely peaceful exercise of our rights to stand against cruel and arbitrary deportations of our neighbors and workers in our community,' he wrote in an Instagram post. This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night
By Conor Humphries BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -Public disorder broke out in different parts of Northern Ireland for the third successive night on Wednesday, as rioters attacked police with petrol bombs in the main flashpoint of Ballymena and a fire was started at a leisure centre in the town of Larne. Hundreds of masked rioters injured police and set homes and cars on fire in the town of Ballymena, 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Belfast, during the previous two nights in what police condemned as "racist thuggery." Riot police and armoured vans blocked roads in Ballymena on Wednesday evening as a crowd of hundreds watched on. About two dozen masked youths threw some rocks, fireworks and petrol bombs at police, a Reuters witness said. Police warned the crowd to disperse immediately and deployed water cannon against them for the second successive night. Riot police were also in Larne where masked youths smashed the leisure centre's windows before starting fires in the lobby, BBC footage showed. Swimming classes were taking place when bricks were thrown through the windows and staff had to barricade themselves in before running out the back door, a local Alliance Party lawmaker, Danny Donnelly, told the BBC. "There is absolutely no excuse for what has taken place in Larne and it must be condemned," Northern Ireland's Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, a Democratic Unionist Party representative for the area, told Cool FM radio. Police said youths were setting fires at a roundabout in the town of Newtownabbey, a flashpoint for sectarian violence that sporadically flares up in the British-run region 27 years after a peace deal largely ended three decades of bloodshed. Debris was also set alight at a barricade in Coleraine, the Belfast Telegraph reported. The violence initially erupted after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court on Monday, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena. The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, whose lawyer told the court that they denied the charge, the BBC reported. Police are investigating the damaging of properties in Ballymena, which has a relatively large migrant population, as racially-motivated hate crimes. Two Filipino families told Reuters they fled their home in the town on Tuesday night after fearing for their safety when their car was set on fire outside the house. The British and Irish governments as well as local politicians have condemned the violence. (Rreporting by Conor Humphries and Amanda Ferguson; Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Seven Injured In Far North Dallas Crash Involving Stolen Vehicle
Seven people were hospitalized, one with serious injuries, after a stolen vehicle crashed into a pole and another vehicle in Far North Dallas on Monday night. The incident followed a police pursuit of an Audi sedan that was reported stolen, according to the Richardson Police Department. The crash occurred around 8:30 p.m. near 13000 Esperanza Road, close to the Dallas-Richardson border. Richardson police attempted to stop the Audi, which was reported stolen and believed to have armed occupants. The vehicle fled westbound on West Spring Valley Road before turning southbound onto Esperanza Road, where it collided with an electrical pole and a Chevrolet Tahoe. The Audi was occupied by six teens, ranging in age from 15 to 19, all of whom were hospitalized. One teen sustained serious injuries, while the others, along with the driver of the Tahoe, suffered minor injuries. Dallas Fire-Rescue reported transporting one person to Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, three to Texas Health Presbyterian Plano, and three to Medical City Plano. Police recovered multiple firearms, a Glock conversion switch, and marijuana inside the Audi, with an additional firearm found on one of the teens. Charges are pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation, according to Richardson police. Authorities have not released the identities of those involved. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Richardson Police Department at 972-744-4800.