How people witnessed the ‘darkest day in Vancouver’ when a car slammed into a crowd

The smells of crispy lumpia, caramelized plantains and other Filipino street foods beckoned attendees of a Vancouver festival as they flooded out of a concert on an unusually sunny spring day in the Canadian city.

As the sun set, lines for food trucks began to wrap around the block. A slow trickle of cars entered the closed street to replenish vendor supplies. Then, one driver hit the accelerator, killing 11 people and injuring dozens at the Lapu Lapu Day festival Saturday night. So far, none of the victims have been identified publicly.

Here is how people witnessed the tragedy.

Like a racecar revving its engine

Clothing vendor Kris Pangilinan recalled hearing what sounded “like an F1 car about to start a race,” followed immediately by screams. He said he will never forget the sound of bodies hitting the hood of the black Audi SUV as it rammed into the crowd.

“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.

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 his old home since moving. But now, his father said the boy cannot close his eyes without seeing flashbacks.

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 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.

The victims range in age from 5 to 65, Rai said. Bodies covered in white tarps lined the row of food trucks as ambulances rushed injured people to the hospital.

“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.

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, 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 they 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 in the street. The image of a woman struck in the collision is burned into Sales’ memory, she said.

Filipinos 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. HANNAH SCHOENBAUM  & CLAIRE RUSH, VANCOUVER, MDT/AP