Shock and grief rippled through Canada’s Filipino community on Sunday as members struggled to come to grips with an attack at a cultural street festival in Vancouver that killed 11 people and injured dozens more.
Filipino BC community organizer RJ Aquino told a news briefing Sunday he’s feeling numb, sad and angry after an SUV rammed the crowd in the waning moments of the Lapu Lapu Day block party on Saturday night.
“Last night was extremely difficult, and the community, we’ll feel this for a long time,” Aquino said Sunday.
“There are a lot of questions floating about and we don’t have all the answers, but we want to tell everybody that we’re grieving,” Aquino said, adding the focus needs to be on providing support to victims.
The organization behind the Lapu Lapu Day event posted to Instagram about the “deep heartbreak” brought on by this senseless tragedy.
A statement from Filipino BC encouraged members of the community to check in on one another and “hold each other” through this tragedy, and provided contact information for victim services and mental health support.
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The group also discouraged people from viewing or sharing the videos from the violent attack.
Hip-hop artist Jacob Bureros performed at the block party Saturday, and said he was just wrapping up with his friends when he noticed the vehicle drive into the crowd.
Bureros, interviewed on his way out of a service at St. Mary the Virgin Church this morning, said he recalled the vehicle sped up quickly before coming to a stop.
“He jumped out of the car and ran, and so, we chased him down,” said Bureros, adding that he and others tried to corner the suspect.
“It was so horrible. The people were crying, the sound of people (having) lost everything, and the kids were crying. There were so many bodies, there was a young woman in the middle of the road, there was someone who was holding their loved ones screaming, people running up and down, looking for their kids,” said Bureros, “I don’t even have words for it right now, it’s just really horrible.”
Bureros said he recalled seeing two dead children lying next to their parents.
“I can’t. It’s so hard to describe what it’s like to see the children; they were so small.”
Bureros said he was angry after witnessing the suspect ask people not to hurt him. He he felt the suspect had “no regret, no concern, and no remorse”
“Everyone was really angry,” said Bureros.
Bureros said the Filipino community needs so much support at the moment and he hopes people will step up to help.
Standing outside St. Mary the Virgin Church Sunday, Vancouver resident Susie Fitz-James was in tears. Fitz-James, who attended the Lapu Lapu Day event with her daughter Saturday, said they were fortunate to leave early before the tragedy took place.
But Fitz-James said they woke up to the tragic news Sunday morning, leaving her terrified and shaken in disbelief.
“When I heard the news this morning, and people started calling me, asking: How are you guys? Then I saw the news, I just started crying,” said Fitz-James.
The Filipino community was to hold a vigil at Fraser Street and East 43rd Avenue at 6 p.m. in Vancouver on Sunday.
Provincial legislator Mable Elmore, who is of Filipino heritage, said Sunday during a news briefing with Aquino that the community is heartbroken about the attack that occurred steps away from her office.
“My message to everyone, to those in the Filipino community, in the broader community, we’re in incredible pain,” she said through tears.
“The Filipino community will show true resilience and we will come together out of this catastrophe with the support and love from the broad community, from all of you in the public across British Columbia and around the world who have expressed support.”
Hundreds of members from the Filipino community attended service at St. Mary the Virgin church in Vancouver on Sunday.
Many attendees could be seen with tears in their eyes, giving each other hugs and pats on the shoulder.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Facebook on Sunday he is “shattered” to hear about the tragedy at the Lapu Lapu event.
The president said his government and country’s residents are one with the families of the victims and Vancouver’s Filipino community.
More than 957,000 Canadians identified as having Filipino roots as of Statistics Canada’s 2021 census, including more than 757,000 people who were born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada.
