A family, a festival and how unfathomable tragedy occurred at Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day

National Post

04-05-2025

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'He started to pick up speed, and then I was like, 'Oh, he's really fast,' and before I knew it, it went right into the crowd.'
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Pangilinan said there were 'dozens of bodies getting hit by the vehicle and flying in the air.' He described the sound as they landed on the pavement.
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He later watched as the table where he had been displaying clothing for sale was used as a stretcher to carry victims to ambulances.
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Nic Magtajas and Jihed Issa were working at a store facing the festival and initially had their backs to the scene when they heard an engine revving.
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Magtejas turned to see the SUV roaring through the street.
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'I saw a bunch of people go over, go high up from the impact of hitting the car,' said Magtajas, 19. 'People were screaming,' said Issa, 17.
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'I ran outside to the street, and I was trying to figure out what happened. I made it to halfway into the street, looked around (and) there was a lot of people panicking, people on the floor — bodies.'
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Victims and debris were strewn over about 100 metres of East 43rd.
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At the eastern end of the carnage was the black SUV, its front end caved in, the hood buckled. A cap was wedged into the wreckage.
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Bystanders apprehended the driver, who police said attempted to flee the scene. Video of the moment shows him up against the chain-link fence outside the school, less than 50 metres from the wrecked car.
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Hip-hop artist Jacob Bureros was among the group who ran down the suspect.
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'I ran on this side, there were others running on that side, and they cornered him,' he said in an interview.
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'I jumped the fence and came around, and we were there, and everyone was really angry, and he got hit, and then other people kind of protected him and stood around him so that the community couldn't take out community justice on him. Everyone was really angry.'
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Bureros said the man kept asking people not to hurt him. He saw 'no remorse, no concern, no regret.'
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Videos show a couple of men, including one in a security uniform, separating the suspect from the screaming crowd gathered around him. 'That's him', 'Smile you piece of shit', 'You know what you did?,' they shout.
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'I'm sorry,' the man responds, touching his hand to his head.
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Among the 11 people killed were teacher-counsellor Kira Salim, artist Jenifer Darbellay, and two families of three — Realtor Richard Le, Lin Hoang and their five-year-old daughter Katie Le; and Colombian immigrants Daniel Samper, his wife Glitza Maria Caicedo, and their adult daughter Glitza Daniela Samper.
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Van Pham said he was driving down Fraser Street at around 8:20 p.m. with his family when they saw about five police cars rushing by.
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'It could have been any one of us,' he said.
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In August 2020, Alexander Lo had posted a photo taken at Canada Place, the waters of Burrard Inlet in the background.
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'Family time!' he captioned the picture showing him with his mother, arm in arm with a handsome young man on her other side, trim in athletic wear with short-cropped hair and a slight smile.
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Adam Lo is just recognizable as the same man against the fence almost five years later — much heavier, his bushy hair dishevelled, his eyes staring wide.
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He has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, and police have said more charges are expected. On Friday, a judge ordered a mental health assessment to see if Lo is fit to stand trial.
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