The Decibel - Eyewitness accounts of the Vancouver festival attack

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu festival was supposed to be a celebration of Filipino culture and traditions. Instead, it became a scene of horror on Saturday, after a man accused of driving an SUV into a crowd, killed 11 people and injured dozens more. Police say the youngest victim was five years old; the oldest was 65. The accused has been charged with eight counts of murder.Globe national reporter Nancy Macdonald, based in Vancouver, was on scene on the night of the attack. She brings us stories of eyewitnesses, what we’ve learned about the victims and the suspect and how communities are reeling after one of the darkest days in Vancouver’s history.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

On Saturday, Vancouver's Filipino community celebrated Lapu Lapu Day with a block party. The day commemorates a 16th century indigenous Filipino warrior who resisted Spanish colonization. Families gathered to celebrate their heritage along with the wider Vancouver community. There were vendors, food trucks, and live music. Then, at around 8 p.m., just as the party was beginning to wind down, came the attack. Carmela and her daughter Carla were there.

And then I just heard, like, a car, like, kinda, kinda- Pushin' on the gas, huh like kind of kind of slow down. It was like it started up and then I think it saw like a bunch of people like the barrier and it stopped and then it started up again. And then it was like a big boom. It was like a bunch of fireworks. When he hit when he started hitting. Yeah. Yeah. It was a big zoom, and then I, boom. And then I saw... Nick was working at a jersey stand at the festival.

We heard the revving, and that's what made us look back. And then we just see him go full speed through a bunch of people. And then I saw a bunch of people go over, go high up from the impact of hitting the car. Mohammed was closing up his Malaysian food truck for the day. It was like so loud that as it was going on, I looked outside of my window and I saw that body lying on the ground. It was like, and I turned around, oh my god, I saw the whole thing.

I didn't realize it was a car, I thought it was an explosion, but my girl was saying, it was a black car, it was a black car, and he just strapped across it. I ran, because she ran. Because she ran, I also ran. Is that your daughter? She's my daughter. So you ran?

I ran, I was like, what is that? Yeah, and then I ran after him. You started running toward it or away? Yeah. No, I ran towards it because everyone was like screaming running towards it too. Yeah. And then you ran after her. I ran after her. Yeah, to stop her.

Yeah, to stop her. And then all people are coming there. Coming toward you. Towards me and they're crying and they're shaking and there's traumatic, even kids, even young kids. I know some of them just instantly ran to try to help out people, but yeah, a lot of people were screaming, a lot of people were in shock just around me. It was just pure mayhem as soon as it happened. It was so bad that you feel, you know, that, so we were trying to help out.

We gave some, you know, coverings for someone out trying to help out we gave some you know coverings for someone out there to help to cover the body so we tried to walk out the back door when we open the back door there's another body at the back of our truck again we walk around we trying to find anybody who needs help things like that right you couldn't sleep at night because I keep visualizing that you know her legs and arms were like tilted, something like that, right? So, and until today, we just wanna work our way out. We don't know what to do.

We just wanna see what we can do. But sad that it happened to a very nice community. We soon learned that 11 people had been killed, We soon learned that 11 people had been killed, ranging in age from 5 to 65 years old. Dozens more were injured. About an hour after the attack, Globe National reporter Nancy McDonald was on the scene. Today, Nancy will tell us what she saw in the aftermath, what survivors told her, and what we know so far about the victims. I'm Maynika Ramen-Wilms and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail.

Nancy, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me. So how did you first hear about the attack that happened on Saturday? So I'd flown home to Vancouver earlier that day. I'd been in Montreal for work. I was exhausted, so I went to bed early. And just before I went to sleep, I took a quick look at my phone and saw this vague tweet about a car crashing into a festival in East Van.

Pretty quickly we could tell it was serious. So I was in the car within a few minutes and on my way there. And what did you see then when you arrived? I've never seen a police response like that. It looked like every officer in the city was there. I was struck by how deathly quiet it was. Fraser is one of Vancouver's most vibrant streets. Right where police had cordoned off traffic is the heart of Little India. There's a big Chinese and Vietnamese presence. This was Saturday night.

Normally the street would have been full of happy people and noisy. And you could just tell by how quiet it was and by the looks on some officers' face, some look really shaken that something really serious had happened. At that point, I had zero information beyond knowing that someone had crashed a car into people. But you could tell just by the silence, by the pall, and by the looks on officers' faces that something really horrific had just occurred. Yeah. And I guess, you know, for people who aren't necessarily familiar with the job of a

journalist, maybe you could just kind of explain it a little bit. As a journalist arriving on the scene when something like this has happened, what is your role when you get to the scene of such a tragedy like that? — I mean, it's to start reporting and to start getting information out. And in this case, I was looking for survivors, people who'd been there. And so I spoke to a few people, you know, you look for people who look shell shocked in those circumstances. First people I spoke with were two teenagers.

They were 17 and 19. They'd been working at a Jersey stand and they'd seen it all. And I was speaking with one of their mums, the 17 year old's mum, who told me the family had come from Syria a few years before. And I saw an officer telling her she needed to get her son to a psychologist as early as the next day as possible because he'd seen so many horrific things that night. I spoke with a delivery food driver who just picked up a meal when he came across the scene. He saw the accused get surrounded by a group of, he thought, security guards.

And then he saw a crowd form around them, you know, pretty angry crowd who were yelling at this guy asking, why he done it? You know, was he drunk? Was he high? So this must have been after he exited the vehicle then, is what you're saying. Yeah. So a mother and daughter who'd been there who also saw it all happen said that after he plowed through the crowd, he jumped out of his car and ran. And they'd also seen a group of security guards grab him and hold him. And, you know, I've got to say they were also protecting them from the crowd who is obviously you know people there were incredibly angry about what had happened.

So that's kind of how I guess people were responding to the attack what what they witnessed what they saw. Did anyone talk to you Nancy about how they felt? I think they were shocked. You know one of the young women I spoke with was shaking. Still shaking. This was hours later. Yeah, I think shock and just disbelief and a sense that it could have been me. You know, a lot of people had stories about how close they'd come to having been part of this tragedy. One street seller told us that he'd

gone for a coffee at Tim Horton's nearby and a woman in line insisted that he go first. And so by the time he got back to it, he got back to his truck, walked in and closed the door and heard the explosion behind him and looked out and there was a dead body. And he keeps thinking, you know, if I hadn't, if that woman hadn't insisted that I get that coffee first, I would have been right there. So, Nancy, in the days following this attack, I know that you yourself and our colleagues have been reporting more on what actually happened there. And now we do know more about the victims, the people who were actually killed that night. Can you tell us what we know about them? So we know 11 have died. There's 16 who are still in hospital and seven are in critical condition.

You know, some of the people who are in critical condition are extremely badly injured. Broken legs, they're on dialysis, they've got damage to several organs. And so police have warned us repeatedly that, you know, the death count may increase. And so we've started contacting some of the families of the people who died. And so I thought I'd just tell you a bit about a few of them. Please, yeah. Yesterday I was speaking with family and friends of Kira Selin, who was trans and non-binary, who came to Canada from

Brazil three years ago. They were looking for a safer place to be queer and to be out, the friend said. Kira came to Canada with her husband Kim Gutman, a dog, Zoe, a rescue dog and five cats. They lived in an apartment in New West together. Kira was this incredibly colourful, alive person. They were a drag king, a dandy, a model, a singer, a musician. And I think within six months of arriving in Canada, they'd sort of started exploring their gender identity. They changed their name, they cut their hair, they were trying on new styles, experimenting with colors. So loved orange, loved dark nail polish, loved leopard prints. But I think the first few years for Kim and Kira were a struggle. Kira's teaching credentials weren't recognized here in BC. And so for a while, Kira worked at a music store in Ks. But they'd gone back and got a counseling degree, realizing that's really what they

wanted to do, is to work with kids. And just last fall, just in September, got a job working at Fraser River Middle School in New West. And friends just talked about how happy Kira was. It was like they'd finally made it. They were doing the thing they came to Canada to do. They were so happy. And then this happened. Kier was there with a friend, a Filipino friend called Helgi Bjarnason and Helgi's mom, Vicky, and Helgi's mom also died. Helgi was holding

onto his mom's hand and tried to pull her away from the car, but she was ripped from his arms and killed. Helgi's leg was broken. He's still in hospital. Vicki was visiting her two sons in Vancouver. They're 27 and 28. She loved them more than anything and they just celebrated one of the boys birthdays the night before. I mean that that's very tragic. Yeah. And just one more family, Richard Lee. He worked as a realtor was there there with his wife, Lynn Huang, and their five-year-old daughter, Katie. The five-year-old girl was described

as just a super energetic, happy kid. And Lynn was an incredibly dedicated mother. Richard's son, Adam, had stayed home. He had to do some homework, so at the last minute, he decided not to go with them. And around eight on Saturday night, Richard texted Adam to say they were on their way. And within minutes, three of them were killed.

Adam's done some interviews, but he's just absolutely devastated. He's the only remaining member of his family. He's just a teenager himself. He's just a kid. AMT. HEATHER CLEMENTS Nancy, I know it's difficult to ask at this point because we don't know a whole lot. But what do we know so far about the man suspected of perpetrating this attack? Because as you said, you know, he was arrested at the scene there.

They did know who he was. But yeah, do we have any information there? NANCY LENOX A little information. His name is Adam Lowe. He's 30 years old. We know there were several tragedies that hit the family. Mr. Lowe's dad died when he was growing up. His brother was murdered last year. And his mother, after his brother's murder, attempted suicide.

We know he had pretty serious mental health issues. Mike Hager, my colleague in Vancouver, reported yesterday that Mr. Lowe was under supervision by his local health authority. He'd been released from a forced stint in hospital a year earlier. He'd been placed in a psychiatric ward against his will, apprehended a year later for another shorter detention. Mike was able to speak with his

childhood friends who said Mr. Lowe had paranoid delusions. He was worried he was being targeted by a number of people. This led him to reach out to police a number of times in recent years. And in fact, he'd actually called the police the day before the alleged attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival. He told police he was worried about strange smells in his car. The accused in this case, as we've said before, is a person who has had previous interactions interactions with police and medical professionals related to mental health. I can confirm that Kai G. Lowe did have contact with the police in a neighboring jurisdiction on April 25th, the day before the vehicle attack. That contact was not criminal in nature and it did not rise that contact was not criminal in nature and it did not rise to the level where mental health intervention was required. The accused in this case, the person in custody, has now been charged

with eight counts of second degree murder. Now, 11 people have died as a result of this vehicle attack. There are eight counts of second-degree murder that have been laid. We anticipate that additional charges will be laid. Again, it's hard to know how much information we have, but do we know why he did this? I think that's the big question. I think police have ruled that they're fairly confident that this was not terrorism. There's no religious or political motive as far as they can tell. Can you just explain that for a minute, Nancy? Like how have they ruled out it's

not terrorism? What do they consider when they make that decision? Well, what they've said is that there has to be a religious motivation or a political motivation for it. There has to be an ideology behind an attack. And in this case, they haven't seen evidence of that. In this case, what they say is mental health really seems to have been the issue here. And it was profoundly unwell. Is there any other, like I guess I wonder,

too, people think about like a hate crime, some other way of categorizing it. Do we have any information if it falls into one of those buckets? We don't know that yet. I guess I wonder too, people think about like a hate crime, some other way of categorizing it. Do we have any information if it falls into one of those buckets? We don't know that yet. We know police executed a search warrant at the house and a large number of officers were there. And so presumably more information will come out.

We're still in the very early days. Yeah. So, Nancy, what will you be watching for? As you say, it's early days right now. Do we expect to learn more in the coming few days? I think the names are slowly trickling out. Police aren't releasing them. It's up to the families themselves.

And in some cases, their family in the Philippines and other places around the world, and they want to make sure that they are informed first. We know names of a few more people, but families have asked us to withhold until they can alert the rest of their family. So I think where I'll be focused in the next few days is trying to speak with the families and friends of victims to really try to bring their stories to life on the page and create a lasting tribute to these people whose lives were cut so horrifically short. Finally, Nancy, I just want to ask you about the impact that this attack has had. You know, from the people that you spoke to and from your

reporting and you yourself living in Vancouver, what kind of toll has this taken on the Filipino community in particular, and I guess also more broadly on the city generally? It's been described as the darkest day in Vancouver's history. And I think certainly in my 20 years in the city, there's been nothing like this. In terms of the Filipino community,

I think anyone who's had any interaction with Filipinos know they are so family and community oriented. And so it feels like everyone in the community either was there or knows someone who was there. My husband's business partner is a pastor and leader in the community, Filipino guy, and he wasn't there that day but you know he's been in touch with families and he was hospitalized on Sunday with high blood pressure and vertigo. I think they were worried he was having a stroke and I think it just gives you an indication of how stressful

and horrific this has been for the community. Nancy, thank you so much for your reporting here and for taking the time to be here. Thanks for having me. That was national reporter Nancy McDonald in Vancouver. That's it for today. I'm Maynika Ramon-Wilms. This episode was produced by Kashia Mihailovic. Our intern is Olivia Grandy. Our associate producer is Aja Souter. Special thanks to Andrea Wu.

Our producers are Madeleine White, Michal Stein, and Ali Graham. David Crosby edits the show. Adrian Chung is our senior producer and Matt Fraynor is our managing editor. Thanks so much for listening and I'll talk to you tomorrow.