Youngest victim in Vancouver festival attack was just 5 years old, say police, as driver remains in custody
The youngest victim of an attack on a festival, killed when a madman sped through a packed Canadian street fair, was just five years old, police revealed in the first disclosure about the victims.
Eleven people were killed in the Saturday massacre at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party in Vancouver, with the oldest victim being 65, Police Chief Steve Rai told reporters in an update Sunday afternoon.
Some victims still “have not yet been identified,” Rai said.
“Dozens” more were also injured, “some critically,” the chief added, after previously explaining the death toll could continue to rise in the coming days.
The suspect believed to be behind the attack – a 30-year-old male – is in custody, and was “known” to police after a “significant” number of interactions stemming from alarming mental health incidents.
Follow the latest on the Vancouver festival attack
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- Youngest victim in Vancouver festival attack was just 5 years old, say police, as driver remains in custody
Despite that history, police did not have any encounters with the suspect immediately before the attack, Rai said, according to the CBC.
The suspect sped down a street packed with hundreds of people around 8 p.m. Saturday just as the Filipino street fair was ending.
Police are not investigating the attack as terror-related, with Rai explaining that previous interactions with the suspect hadn’t revealed any political or religious ideations.
He is believed to have gained access to the packed street – which was lined with food trucks and filled with people after the festival’s headlining musical performance finished – after workers removed a barrier to allow clean-up to begin.
The suspect managed to slip in, according to witnesses, then barrel down the street at a high speed.
Some compared the carnage – and the bodies being thrown in the air as the car passed — to a bowling ball smashing through an array of pins.
The Black Eyed Peas singer?apl.de.ap,?who was headlining the festival, had finished performing just minutes before the attack unfolded.
“Our hearts are broken for the victims, their families, and everyone affected by the tragedy,” the singer, whose real name is Allan Pineda Lindo, wrote on Instagram Sunday.
“I had just finished performing and left the stage minutes before it happened,” he said. “It’s hard to describe the shock and the heaviness we feel.”
