The Canadian police raised to 11 the number of deaths caused by an individual who on Saturday night ran over dozens of people attending a street festival in the city of Vancouver, on Canada’s Pacific coast.

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Provisional Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai added at a press conference that the death toll could increase in the next few hours because the attack, which he said was not a terrorist act, caused dozens of injuries, many of them serious.

The police official confirmed that the alleged perpetrator of the massacre, who was arrested immediately after the hit-and-run at the scene of the incident, is an individual who was “known” to the police and suffers from mental health problems.

Rai explained that the Police do not consider it a terrorist act because “there is no indication that this individual had religious or political ideas” and because of the individual’s history.

“This was the darkest day in our city’s history” said acting @VancouverPD Chief Steve Rai. 11 confirmed dead at last night’s Lapu-Lapu Festival in Vancouver. Lone suspect in custody had many prior interactions with police due to mental illness. Video of this morning’s press… pic.twitter.com/6l1B9V7DF3

— The New Westminster Times (@NewWestTimes) April 27, 2025

The authorities have not released the identities or ages of the deceased. But Rai, visibly affected, did indicate that there are men, women, and young people. Pressed on whether there were children among the dead, given that the festival was a family event of the Filipino-Canadian community, the police chief simply said, dismayed, “there were young people.”

The police account states that the incident began at 8:14 p.m. local time on Saturday (3:14 a.m. GMT on Sunday) on a busy city street in the final moments of the Filipino-Canadian community’s street festival called Lapu Lapu when there were still tens of thousands of people present.

The driver of the vehicle, a black Audi SUV, entered a closed area where there was a crowd of people and accelerated, running over pedestrians.

“We believe that dozens have been injured, some seriously, and the death toll could rise in the coming days or weeks. The most critical injured were transported to nine hospitals in the Vancouver area,” Rai said.

The incident occurs in the middle of a federal elections campaign closing. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed shock and devastation after the mass shooting in Vancouver, cancelling an election event on the last day of the campaign for the legislative elections.

Carney ruled out “an active threat to the Canadians,” while other political leaders also suspended their events.

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