‘They Are in Heaven Now’: Vancouver Community Shaken by Car Attack Urges Stronger Security, Mental Health Reforms

Car ramming attack at Filipino street festival by suspect with a history of mental illness took 11 lives.

People pray during a vigil for the victims of a car-ramming attack at a Filipino street festival in Vancouver that killed 11 people, in Ottawa on April 28, 2025. Chris Tanouye/The Canadian Press

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.

“I feel for those people,” Ulap told NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media. “At the end of the day, it was supposed to be a very successful event. It’s just unfortunate that these things happen.”