A victim covered with a cloth lies near a food truck after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP)

VANCOUVER (AP) — Multiple people are feared dead and scores injured after a driver plowed his car into a crowd of revelers, most of them Filipinos, at a street festival in Canada, police said.

The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver, in a statement, expressed its deep concern and sympathies to the victims of the horrific incident at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party.

“As we await more information about the incident, we pray that our community remains strong and resilient imbued with the spirit of bayanihan during this difficult time.”

The vehicle entered the street at 8:14 p.m. Saturday where people were attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post.

“A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove into a crowd,” police said. The exact number of dead or injured was not immediately available.

A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and the department’s Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation, police said.

“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” the police department posted early Sunday.

The festival was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media showed victims and debris strewn across a long stretch of road, with at least seven people lying immobile on the ground. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in still photos from the scene.

“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event,” Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said in a social media post, adding that the city would provide more information when possible. “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time."

Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Canadian political figures posted messages expressing shock at the violence, condolences for victims and support for the community celebrating its heritage at the festival.

“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,” Carney wrote.

“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," wrote Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, who was at the festival earlier in the day.

“My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more,” Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre wrote.

David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, said he was shocked and heartbroken. “We are in contact with the City of Vancouver and will provide any support needed,” Eby wrote.

The Lapu Lapu Day festival was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media showed victims and debris strewn across a long stretch of road, with at least seven people lying immobile on the ground.

A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in still photos from the scene.

Video posted on social media showed victims and debris strewn across a long stretch of road that was lined with food trucks, with at least seven people lying immobile on the ground.

James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the event and heard a car rev its engine and then “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought might be a gunshot.

“We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured,” Cruzat said.

“It was terrible to see that kind of incident, that situation. It was heartbreaking,” Cruzat said. “I couldn’t even imagine that it’s actually happening in real life, because normally we see that on TVs or movies. But when you are in that kind of situation, it was really shocking. Like, you couldn’t think really, really well. You couldn’t do anything but to pray for them.”

Lapu Lapu Day is named after an Indigenous resistance fighter in the Philippines who fought against Spanish colonization in the 16th Century.

Friday's event was the second annual street celebration of the day in Vancouver, and organizers had said it was an opportunity to mark "the enduring impact on Filipino values, notably the spirit of bayanihan — the collective community effort." (With a report from The Canadian Press)