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00:00Good morning everyone. Thank you for coming. Interim Chief Constable Steve Rye will be
00:09providing an update on today's mass casualty incident. He is joined by Deputy Chief Constable
00:16Fiona Wilson and Deputy Chief Constable Howard Chow. Once Interim Chief is done providing his
00:23update, we will take a few questions from members of the media.
00:30Morning. On behalf of everyone at the Vancouver Police Department, I want to extend my sincere
00:48condolences to the victims, their families and loved ones, and to everyone who has been
00:55impacted by this senseless, heartbreaking act of violence.
01:02This is the darkest day in our city's history. Last night, as thousands of members of Vancouver's
01:08Filipino community gathered for an important cultural celebration, the actions of a single
01:15person shattered our collective sense of safety. It is impossible to overstate how many lives
01:22have been impacted forever by this lone individual. There are many unanswered questions about why
01:29this horrific crime happened, the motive of the person who did it, and whether anything
01:36could have been done to prevent it. There are many things we still don't know, but we are
01:42working hard to get all of the answers. Here is what I am able to share with you this morning.
01:50Shortly after 8 last night, Saturday, April 26th, a man driving a black Audi SUV drove into
01:58a large crowd of people at the Lapu-Lapu Street Festival in South Vancouver. This festival, which
02:06is a celebration of Filipino community and culture, had been taking place all day in and around the
02:13grounds of a school located at 41st and Fraser Street. It was expected that tens of thousands
02:20of people would attend throughout the day. Although it was scheduled to wrap up at 8pm, there were
02:27still many people in the area when the incident occurred. The vehicle that struck festival goers
02:34approached the festival area from the west on East 43rd Avenue. It entered a small crowd
02:41enclosed area and drove through the crowd. There were hundreds of festival goers still on the street
02:49and multiple people were struck by the vehicle. There are now 11 confirmed fatalities.
03:01We believe dozens more are injured, some seriously, and the number of dead could rise in the coming
03:07days or weeks. The most critically injured were transported by ambulance to nine different hospitals
03:15throughout Metro Vancouver and we want to extend our profound gratitude to all of the medical
03:22professionals who have worked throughout the night to care for the victims. The driver of the vehicle
03:29was the lone occupant and he was arrested at the crime scene by members of the Vancouver Police Department
03:35after bystanders and witnesses intervened to detain him. He remains in custody. While I'm not prepared to speak
03:44about the potential motive, I can now say with confidence that the evidence in this case does not
03:49lead us to believe this was an act of terrorism. I can also tell you that the person we have in custody
03:58does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to
04:05mental health. I am unable to publicly identify the person who is in custody
04:12because charges have not yet been laid. Homicide investigators are currently presenting evidence
04:18to Crown Counsel, which is the independent authority in British Columbia to lay criminal charges.
04:24We will provide additional information once the charge approval process is complete.
04:34More than 100 Vancouver police officers are currently working on this case.
04:38They have been providing comfort to the injured, interviewing eyewitnesses and collecting key pieces of
04:45evidence from throughout the crime scene. We will continue to dedicate every available resource
04:51at our disposal to complete this investigation and to support the community as it grieves.
04:58It is hard to make sense of something so senseless and I know there are questions about whether this
05:05tragedy could have been prevented. The Vancouver Police Department worked with the City of Vancouver
05:12to conduct a risk assessment prior to the Lapu-Lapu Festival. The majority of active activities
05:18associated with the festival were taking place on the grounds of a high school which is not directly
05:25accessible via public roadway. The only public roadway that required partial closure was on a minor street
05:34behind the high school and this area was designated for food trucks and there were no known threats to the event
05:42or to the Filipino community. We review over 32 events, 3,200 events every year and assess the risks with City partners.
05:52This event was no exception. We determined through consultations with the City of Vancouver
05:59and festival organizers that dedicated police officers and heavy vehicle barricades would not be deployed at
06:06the festival site. While I'm confident the joint risk assessment and public safety plan was sound,
06:14we will be working with our partners at the City of Vancouver to review all of the circumstances
06:19surrounding the planning of this event. Today our focus must be on the victims and their families,
06:27the community and our City and the ongoing criminal investigation.
06:35In closing, I want to thank all of the emergency responders including BC Ambulance Service,
06:40Vancouver Fire Rescue, all of the healthcare professionals throughout the region, our external policing partners
06:48and the RCMP and BC Coroner Service. I want to offer my condolences to everyone impacted by these tragic
06:56circumstances. We are grieving with you, we're with you. A 24-hour assistance center has been established at
07:04the Douglas Park Community Centre at 801 West 22nd Avenue in Vancouver. Police officers and victim
07:12service professionals have been deployed to help anyone and all who have been impacted and we offer
07:19that you contact a loved one who is at the festival if they need assistance. If you're not able to attend
07:25in person, please call 604-717-3321 and victim liaison officer. I want to acknowledge everyone in the
07:36Vancouver Police Department who serve our community. Thank you and I'll now take some questions.
07:44Is the suspect speaking to police, are you able to, are your officers able to work our stations in?
07:49Um, we have, uh, police have, uh, spoken with the individual. Uh, yes.
07:57Is he currently in, like in, like a secure hospital ward or is he actually in cells?
08:01He's in our custody, um, uh, with us, uh, in, uh, a secure cell.
08:07What do we, what do we know about him? Is he a Vancouver resident? Can you share anything about
08:13his nationality? Is he from here? Is his family from here? Have you been in contact with his family?
08:17We would have been in contact with the family. Um, he is, uh, like I said, we have had interactions
08:27with him. Uh, he, so he's known to us and, uh, I have to be, uh, respectful of the, uh, criminal, uh,
08:37prosecution process coming forward. So I'm comfortable telling you that we're familiar with him. He's in
08:42custody and, uh, obviously his family, we would have been in touch with them.
08:46I know you can't really elaborate. Just asking one more time if you can tell us that most of the
08:51interactions were due to mental illness, mental health calls, or criminal issues, convictions.
08:57I'm going to stick to the prepared statement. We've had, uh, uh, uh, a substantive, uh, conduct,
09:05contact with him over mental health issues. Why is it that, I can understand that you did a safety
09:11assessment, but if you're still expecting tens of thousands of people, there's still some exposure
09:15on a minor street, why wasn't there more of a presence and more of a proactive way to kind of
09:20prevent something like this from happening, considering we have seen it in other cities?
09:23So we do about, uh, 1,000 protests and over 2,200 events, public events. All of those events,
09:30every single one goes through a process with all of the stakeholders, the organizers,
09:34the city of Vancouver, and then over to us. So jointly we assess that, uh, this particular event did not
09:40have any, um, uh, indicators that we would need to, um, do anything, uh, that we would have done for any
09:49other community festival. Now we, there's, uh, this, this festival last year, um, this is the second year
09:56of this festival, had absolutely zero issues with police. Uh, uh, there was no, uh, you know, elements
10:04that required, uh, a change for this year. Uh, we're mindful of, uh, uh, you know, the communities, uh,
10:12you know, how they want to conduct the festival. It's a family, children event, and none of the
10:18indicators were there to do anything to a higher threat level.
10:21Can you tell us about the victims, their ages, their genders, um, whether their families have been notified?
10:28So, um, what I can tell you, uh, mixed genders, male, female,
10:34uh, and young people, uh, I can't get into ages and, and that, but I, uh, it's just a tragedy all
10:41around for many families.
10:42Were we heard reports of, uh, of an infant or baby among the dead?
10:46Um, there were young people.
10:50Were there any barriers?
10:52Um, there were, um, we're reviewing that. So, like I said, the, the actual event was occurring in a
10:59closed area of that high school, and there was no access to vehicles for the main part of it,
11:05of the area. The area where the tragedy occurred was lined with food trucks, and that's what that
11:12street was meant for, and, uh, there was, uh, uh, you know, there were no barriers denying people access to those food trucks.
11:21I know you said terrorism is not expected. Was this event targeted? Do you know why it was
11:29this event that this person rode a vehicle into?
11:32So, for terrorism, there should be some political, religious ideology, ideation behind it. There's no
11:38indicators that this individual had that, and be, and, uh, obviously the history we have with him,
11:45uh, uh, leads towards that there wasn't any other indicators.
11:49Does he live around the area?
11:51Um, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, it's fair to say it's a, he's a Vancouver resident.
11:56Can you say where the rampage began, um, where he began driving?
11:59There were other incidents on the way to the incident?
12:02Um, I'm not aware of any other incidents on the way to, uh, this particular impact area.
12:08Uh, my information is he's, he was traveling, uh, eastbound on 43rd, uh, when he approached the area.
12:16We'll take some questions from people who do have it answered.
12:20Yeah, yeah.
12:20Who owned the vehicle?
12:22Um, I'm, uh, the vehicle, uh, was owned by, um, and I can't, uh, it was owned by a,
12:31somebody associated to that family.
12:32You said your comment that the, it was assessment prior to the sound, but I, you know,
12:39how is this going to change things now moving forward?
12:42Because I think the sun run is happening outside.
12:44Right.
12:45There are a thousand people on the street and I think that's something you can say.
12:48So just on the sun run, we did, uh, we did assess it last night with City of Vancouver.
12:53It was their call to continue the sun run.
12:55We are 100% able to staff it safely.
12:58It is, it is, uh, safely staffed and proper resourcing and, uh, proper threat assessment was done for the sun run.
13:06Um, of course, going forward, uh, it goes without saying this will change the landscape for deployment for police, uh, going forward.
13:17Um, you know, we're a, we're a community, we're a city, uh, you know, we're a city of great neighborhoods and, and people from all over the world.
13:27And, uh, you know, like I said, 3,200 events total and the system has worked up to this point.
13:35And, of course, this will be a watershed moment for everyone involved at the city, police department, ambulance,
13:41all the stakeholders going forward on operational changes.
13:45Thank you, everyone.
13:46We're going to end it here.
13:47Would you classify this as the worst, best casualty event in the history in the city?
13:52I would say at the beginning, I said it's the darkest day in Vancouver's history and, uh, stand by that.
13:58And, sorry, one more question, uh, you said 11 fatalities, unfortunately, you said dozens injured.
14:04Can you give us an update on how many are critical at this point?
14:07I can't, uh, be, be inappropriate.
14:09I can't, but, uh, we're supporting everyone.
14:12So we're going to end it here, everyone.
14:14Thank you, Debbie.
14:15So we're going to have, uh, more updates to provide later today.
14:19You will be made aware of when that, when that will be happening.
14:21It's my understanding that, uh, the city of Vancouver will be providing an update as well.
14:26You will, uh, get a notification for when that will happen.
14:29They are, uh, taking care of that.
14:30And from our end, we will, uh, provide more updates as the day unfolds.
14:34Okay?
14:34Thank you very much for coming.