Charles and Camilla 'profoundly saddened' by Vancouver ramming attack that left nine dead
27 April 2025, 14:15 | Updated: 27 April 2025, 15:53
King Charles has said he and Queen Camilla are "profoundly saddened" by an attack in Vancouver that has killed nine people.
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Charles, who is the head of state in Canada, said Saturday night's attack on a Filipino street festival was "dreadful" and "profoundly tragic".
The King added: "Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada."
A driver, who has not been named, "drove into a crowd at a street festival" at about 8pm local time on Saturday.
Police said that a 30-year-old man is in custody. Officers said that he was "known to police in certain circumstances".
Officers also said they were "confident" the attack was not an act of terrorism.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was "devastated" by the attack. He added that the victims' families were going through "a nightmare".
Acting Police Chief Steve Rai said there are "multiple injured" and "multiple fatalities", but "there are still family members who need to be contacted".
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you.
"We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action."
I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event. We will work to provide more information as soon as we can, but at this time @VancouverPD have confirmed that there are a number of fatalities and multiple injuries. Our thoughts are with…
— Mayor Ken Sim (@KenSimCity) April 27, 2025
The incident was during the annual Lapu Lapu festival - named after the national hero of the Philippines.
It's believed there were "a few thousand" people in attendance.
The event was coming to a close when a vehicle suddenly ploughed into the pedestrian-only area.
Social media videos show ambulances and police vehicles at the scene at E. 41st Avenue and Fraser.
The driver of the SUV was taken to custody and told bystanders he was "sorry", the Vancouver Sun reports.
Acting Police Chief Rai said the suspect was "known to the police in certain circumstances".
Yoseb Vardeh, the co-owner of a food truck, was at at the festival all day.
He told Postmedia: "I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev. It didn’t make any sense to me because there’s still people here like, it sounded like a car speeding. It didn’t make any sense."
"And then I look up and there’s people flying. It just happened so f****** fast.”
He continued: “I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere."
“He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”
“I saw so many people, and they just couldn’t believe what was happening. It was their wife, it was their mom, it was their kid,” he said. “All these people were shocked, walking around and they didn’t know what the f-ck to do," Mr Vardeh said.
“I couldn’t help them. There’s nothing to do."
Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh was at the Lapu Lapu event before the incident.
He said he is "horrified to learn" that "innocent people" were killed and injured.
"As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families – and Vancouver’s Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience," he said, via the BBC.
Singh is a candidate for Canada's federal election on Monday.
His district is Burnaby Central, just east to where the incident took place.
