At least 11 people have been killed and over 20 others injured after a man drove a car into a crowd during a street festival in Vancouver, local police said on Sunday.
The driver has been taken into custody.
“We will provide more information as the investigation unfolds,” the police force added.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who changed the scheduling of his campaign events following news of the incident, said the police described it as a “car ramming attack.”
“An investigation is ongoing to determine how and why this horrific attack occurred. Authorities have confirmed one person is [in] custody and it is believed they acted alone.”
Images from the scene show the police investigating a black SUV which has its hood crumpled and engine underneath exposed.
Police said they arrested the suspect, a 30-year-old Vancouver man, at the scene and that its Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation.
“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” the police department posted on Sunday.
The man was arrested after bystanders initially apprehended him, Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said at a news conference.
Social media videos showed a man wearing a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, flanked by a security guard and bystanders who were screaming and swearing at him.
“I’m sorry,” the man said while holding his hand to his head.
Rai did not comment on the video, but described the person in custody as a “lone male” who was “known to police in certain circumstances.”
Rai told reporters during a later press conference that those injured in the attack were taken to nine different hospitals and the number of dead “could rise in the coming days or weeks.” He said victims are both male and female and that “young people” are included among the dead.
“I said it’s the darkest day in Vancouver’s history and I stand by that,” he said.
One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck.
The Vancouver Sun reported that thousands of people were in the area. Fraser Street was filled with food trucks and people at the time of the attack.
“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev,” Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, said in an interview with Postmedia.
“I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere,” Vardeh said, his voice breaking. ”He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”
Condolences
Authorities do not believe there is any active threat to Canadian citizens, Carney said.Speaking in Mississauga, Ont., on April 27, Poilievre said the loved ones of those who lost their lives in this attack will have a “deep hole in their hearts today, and we will try and fill that with love.”
“All Canadians are united in solidarity with the Filipino community,” the Tory leader said. “All Canadians are united with you in mourning the loss of these treasured lives.”
“I don’t have the words to describe the sorrow that I’m feeling right now, but I want the Filipino community to know we’re standing with you. You do not grieve alone,” he said in Burnaby, B.C.
Singh said he had not been briefed about the details of the mass casualty attack.
“We don’t know any details about it, whether it turns out whatever the motive is, either way, the Filipino community was targeted, because this was a clearly Filipino event,” he said.
“We will work to provide more information as soon as we can,” he said.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
“We are in contact with the City of Vancouver and will provide any support needed,” Eby said. “My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.”
Several world leaders or officials also extended condolences, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, UK’s foreign minister David Lammy, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybiha, and Czech Republic’s foreign minister Jan Lipavský.
