Rudy Ulap had done everything by the book. He and his wife helped organize Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Festival, an annual event celebrating Filipino culture, using the same approach that worked last year. But this time, the day did not end with cleanup and celebration—it ended with sirens, heartbreak, and 11 lives lost after a car rammed into the crowd.
“In the coming days as we learn more about the victims in this horrific attack, the trauma is going to increase. It’s going to get harder before it gets easier.”
Among the victims was a teacher Ulap’s wife knew. “I don’t know if [she died] instantly or in the hospital, but we just found out that she’s one of those victims of this incident, and we were shaking,” Ulap said.
Regina, a member of the Filipino community who chose not to give her last name, arrived at the festival shortly after the tragedy. She said she had been running late after watching coverage of Pope Francis’ funeral. When she arrived, nothing looked familiar.
“The next thing I saw was a lot of police cars and fire,” she told NTD.
Among the victims was the mother of her son’s friend, Regina said, adding that next year’s event should include more visible security and stricter entry measures.
“She shouldn’t be [dead]. But you know, they are in heaven now,“ she said. ”It’s heartbreaking for the community and for everybody.”
Another community member who was spared having to witness the incident was Dessie Hoffman, who had left the festival earlier with her family. She says the suspect should not have been out on the streets and should have received treatment sooner to prevent such a tragedy.
“This boy should be helped,” she told NTD, adding that people with mental illness should not be walking around the community “like a ticking bomb.”
Mental Illness and Crime in BC
The suspect in the tragedy, Adam Lo, appears to have faced significant emotional strain in recent years. According to Vancouver police, his brother was murdered in an unrelated incident in January of last year. Their mother attempted suicide following the murder, according to a funding platform previously set up by the suspect.Asked by reporters whether the tragedy would prompt policy changes related to involuntary care in the province, B.C. Premier David Eby said his government is waiting for more answers and will “take the actions that are necessary.” He did not say if that would include new steps on involuntary treatment.
“We have a huge need in the province for interventionist mental health services,” Eby said, adding that investigators should approach the case “with an open mind.”
“My commitment is that we will support the police in finding those answers, and we’ll support the public in knowing as best we can what happened as well as how we are going to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
B.C. Conservative shadow minister for public safety Elenore Sturko said the incident reflects the need to improve British Columbians’ access to mental health services, including involuntary secure care.
Some people with mental illness do not meet the criteria for involuntary care under the Mental Health Act, Sturko told The Epoch Times in an interview. She suggested the province could respond by expanding access to mental health services or introducing new legislation that allows for other forms of “compassionate” intervention when current laws don’t apply.
“I think that we can all agree at this point that the current status quo is not working, and that more needs to be done to protect people who are suffering from severe mental illness, but also to protect the community,” she said.
A statement from the B.C. ministry of health on April 29 says the accuser was being followed closely under the Mental Health Act, and there was “no indication of violence” in his presentation to the Vancouver Coastal Health team.
To the care team’s knowledge, it says, there was no recent change in Lo’s condition of non-compliance with his treatment plan that would have warranted him needing to be hospitalized involuntarily.
Sturko said part of the problem may stem from underfunded mental health services or the current provincial government prioritizing other policies.
Pointing to a lack of support for people with serious mental illness, she cited the case of a family whose adult son, diagnosed with schizophrenia and known to have self-harmed, including with a machete, only meets with his case worker once a week.
In the case of the suspect in the April 26 car attack, Sturko said earlier interactions with authorities might have led to proper care if more mental health services had been available. She said she’s been told the suspect had nearly 100 prior contacts with police.
Eby said he wanted to turn the “rage” he felt toward the suspect into support for the Filipino community.
“It’s hard for me, and I know for many people, in this moment not to feel rage at the man who did this–murdered innocent people, who destroyed a community celebration,” he said on April 27.
Community Working Through the Impact
The organizer of the Lapu Lapu Festival, Filipino BC, said the community is still struggling to come to terms with the incident.
John Quintanilla, a Filipino who was visiting Vancouver, stopped by a memorial arranged by the community to pay his respects to the victims on April 28.
“Families just came to enjoy an event and it turned out to be a tragedy where no one deserved it,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t stop everyone from doing such a happy event [again], especially a big day for us Filipinos.”
