A driver plowed a car into a crowd at a street festival celebrating Filipino heritage in Vancouver on Saturday night, killing at least nine people and injuring others.

Some of those attending the festival helped arrest the suspect at the scene, who police identified as a 30-year-old man.

“It’s something you don’t expect to see in your lifetime,” Kris Pangilinan, a Toronto-based journalist, told Canadian public broadcaster CBC. “[The driver] just slammed the pedal down and rammed into hundreds of people. It was like seeing a bowling ball hit — all the bowling pins and all the pins flying up in the air.”

He continued, “It was like a war zone… There were bodies all over the ground.”

  • @floofloof@lemmy.ca
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    13215 days ago

    No motive has been given, although police have said they are “confident” it was not an act of terrorism.

    I wonder what makes them confident of that. It certainly resembles a terrorist attack.

    • @Grabthar@lemmy.world
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      2915 days ago

      Dude might have been drunk. If it isn’t intentional, it’s usually a case of too drunk or too old.

      • @dalekcaan@lemm.ee
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        414 days ago

        It’s not terrorism just because the victims are white.

        They also need to be billionaires.

    • @sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      14 days ago

      It does resemble a terrorist attack…

      But if you watched the press conference with the chief of police (or the equivalent title)…

      They have the suspect in custody, there were no specific threats to the event before hand, the suspect has a long history of mental illness, and the suspect has had many previous run ins with the police, ‘suspect is well known to the department’… gives me the impression this is a person who is having one kind of mental breakdown or another … every month or other week.

      At one point a reporter asked if it was terrorism and the CoP basically says… that would require a political or ideological motivation.

      The CoP … you could tell he was doing his best to divulge information he could without divulging information he couldn’t. He paused and tried to rephrase things a few times, openly struggled with … seemingly genuinely being unclear about what he was legally allowed to say.

      If the person truly is seriously mentally ill, there may be additional laws in place protecting some extra level of their privacy, at least before charges are actually brought.

      Put all that together, and it seems like this person has been just… very very seriously mentally ill for a long time, as in, too mentally ill to be capable of forming a coherent or describable ideology.

      Or, at the very least, that seems to me to be what the police are saying.

    • @DrivebyHaiku@lemmy.ca
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      514 days ago

      There’s a very specific rubric for what counts as a terrorist attack in Canada. Probably the level of calculation and premeditation involved was a factor and that he’s not a part of an ideologically organized group that is trying to influence behaviour of a government or political body.

      A spontaneous hate crime made against a population is technically not a terrorist attack by Canadian definition. To count you have to have done it for a narrow slice of very specific reasons.

  • @Zacpod@lemmy.world
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    4215 days ago

    I know it’s a slim chance and I’m going out on a limb here, but something tells me the driver was a white conservative.

    • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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      1815 days ago

      Apparently it was mental health related, and he was apologizing when he came out of the car

    • @venusaur@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Video shows the person looks Asian. Probably conservative. I’d imagine a lot of Filipinos voted for Trump too.

      EDIT: Filipinos. Not Filipino Canadians.

      • @Omgpwnies@lemmy.world
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        7215 days ago

        Going out on a limb that most of the Filipinos in that crowd didn’t vote for Trump, being that it happened in Canada

        • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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          314 days ago

          Now I’m curious as to how many people outside the US vote for American candidates as write-in votes.

        • @ripcord@lemmy.world
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          -215 days ago

          I mean, they’re still probably right that a lot of Filipinos probably voted for Trump still. Just not many in that crowd probably. And very unlikely to be “most”

      • @BadlyTimedLuck@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Seems like people already believe Canada is a US state. I dunno if I should laugh at the stupidity or cry that stupidity is winning

        • @venusaur@lemmy.world
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          14 days ago

          You misunderstand. And you’re not a very nice person. What I’m suggesting is that Filipinos have the same beliefs across the border. ChatGPT doesn’t seem to believe that’s the case tho.

          • @sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            114 days ago

            What I’m suggesting is I am asking ChatGPT to validate my idea that all Filipinos have the same beliefs, wherever they are, almost as if their worldviews are entirely determined by their racial/ethnic origin.

            Please stop and maybe read the things your write outloud before you post them…

            • @venusaur@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              Ditto.

              And yeah, Filipinos are very catholic so it would make sense that they lean conservative.

  • @WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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    3715 days ago

    No motive has been given, although police have said they are “confident” it was not an act of terrorism.

    Let me guess? The suspect is white! I jest, but at this point it’s probably likely the driver is a radicalized “conservative” than any other group.

    • @SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
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      3815 days ago

      No. East Asian looking male with a history of mental illness.

      Most likely the political component of this tragedy is how the Socreds closed regional mental health institutions in the late 20th C, and subsequent governments just swept the whole thing under the rug while homelessness spread through the province and mentally disturbed and unsupported people lashed out in random ways.

      Now you have dorks and bootlickers like Mayor Sims turning a health system failure into an opportunity for cruelty and repression. Punishment will be the talking point. They will roll with that, watch.

    • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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      1515 days ago

      Why would you guess? You can literally just look it up. It’s all over the news.

      • @sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        214 days ago

        Because confirmation bias is a superior substitute to basic research, how else would one inform themselves about the world?

        /s

  • @arankays@lemmy.ca
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    1515 days ago

    “car plows”

    So we only call it a murder or a terrorist attack if guns are involved?

    We are brainwashed and numb to car violence. Super sad that nothing is done to stop this from happening.

    Cars need to go. Away forever.

    • TheTechnician27
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      15 days ago

      Cars need to go, streets need to pedestrianize, and bollards need to go up to make sure cars stay the hell out.

      To your point, imagine if this were a mass-shooting and the title were: “Nine people killed after gun shoots into crowd at Vancouver Filipino Festival”. “Nine people killed after knife stabs into crowd at Vancouver Filipino Festival.” It’s so fucking passive as to be sickening. It reminds me of the “Man dies in officer-involved shooting” trope we see in US media because extrajudicial murder by the police is so routine and heavily whitewashed.

      The AP gives it the same treatment. The only equivalent I could think of is “Nine people killed after bomb explodes into crowd”, and you know why that might be written that way? Because it’s not immediately obvious who placed the bomb. This mass-murdering psychopath is in custody; we can say “Nine people killed after man drives into crowd at Vancouver Filipino festival.”

      Edit: the death toll is now eleven, not nine.

      • @SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
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        115 days ago

        While I agree that it skews the narrative, it’s likely that media at early stages of the story use passive language like that to leave open the possibility of various causes, such as mechanical malfunction or even an algorithmic failure.

        • @DrivebyHaiku@lemmy.ca
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          314 days ago

          It’s not nessisarily skewing the narrative, it’s just not providing context. Terrorist acts have a narrow definition in Canadian law. This guy could be a spree killer motivated by racism but unless that killing is for premeditated ideological, religious or political reasons to coerce a specific result or change of policy from the population / Government it doesn’t fall under the definition.

          No manifesto or claim of reasoning or connections found to groups that claim responsibility - no terrorist designation.

          • @SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
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            214 days ago

            This is true, though the declaration being avoided is a wider set than just terrorism.

            When I say skew I am not implying intent to mislead, just that paranoid interpretations by readers are kind of inevitable in such a situation.

      • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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        -215 days ago

        Yes, but you’re mixing several points here, primarily environmental and direct harm. Car-centric city design is harmful, but a highway doesn’t up and kill people one day in the same way that a driver hitting someone with their car does.

        The other thing you’re mixing into this one comment is the attribution of harm, the “car plows into crowd” thing. Yes, the car didn’t do it, a driver drove their car into the crowd. Having the reporting properly attribute the action is a separate issue from the actions themselves.

      • @arankays@lemmy.ca
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        -314 days ago

        Where are you “mental health issues” people coming from? I know you people are brainwashed by the car corporations but come on now half my inbox is full of you.

        • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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          114 days ago

          ok so this is reminding me of “guns kill people” vs “people kill people.” In Canada we understand both are true. Drivers are a problem and carbrain culture is a problem and mental health issues are a problem.

    • @wetbung@sopuli.xyz
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      215 days ago

      There are a lot of areas that were designed based on cars. Where I live would be difficult for most of the residents without cars or something similar. The population density is too low to make most public transportation practical.

      • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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        115 days ago

        Good news, in those places a driver going off the road isn’t going to hit a crowd of people.

        • @wetbung@sopuli.xyz
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          15 days ago

          I completely agree. If you look at the comment I was responding to, though, you’ll see they appear to be advocating a complete prohibition, “Cars need to go. Away forever.” I’m just saying there are places where that’s not practical.

          • @taladar@sh.itjust.works
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            115 days ago

            Most of those places would work just fine with a combination of trains for long distance and bicycles/walking for local travel too.

            • TheTechnician27
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              15 days ago

              Boats, trains, subways, light rail, trams, buses, cable cars, micro electric vehicles, bikes, velomobiles, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, feet, and sensible urban planning where the nearest grocery store isn’t an hour’s walk from my house don’t exist. If it’s not a car, I don’t wanna hear about it.

      • @arankays@lemmy.ca
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        15 days ago

        That’s because they specifically designed those areas to be car specific to serve the needs of the Nazi Ford corporation. “Population density” is a poor argument.

        Just look up pictures of America 100 years ago. Trains. Streetcars. Trams. Buses.

        Not fucking highways and urban sprawl.

        By all means, live in your little suburb with your car. We just want the cities to be safe from the violence they bring.

    • @DrivebyHaiku@lemmy.ca
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      114 days ago

      A terrorist attack has a narrow definition in Canadian law where it is specifically part of a premeditated ideological, religious or political attempt to influence government policy or to intimidate a section of the public to a specific end. Basically if this guy didn’t have a manifesto or ever stated his reason within this rubric and was not part of a group that has specific aims then it follows under a regular old spree killer homicide unless it was racially motivated in which case it is also a hate crime.

      Whether one uses cars or guns is not a factor in determining what counts as a terrorist act. The reporting on this has not been great ar clearing up this point.

  • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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    1415 days ago

    Can mods do something about this thread? Everyone is engaging in friendly speculation that it was terrorism, because their lizard brains are remembering the Toronto attack. This was a mental health problem. The suspect was not a white supremacist. Go back to America please.

    • @4shtonButcher@discuss.tchncs.de
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      814 days ago

      In this case I have too little insight. But it’s quite clear how biased these reports are in Germany. Anyone not absolutely German is immediately a terrorist and every white, German dude is a confused loner. Media never suspects that mental issues based on trauma from war and refugee journeys might be a good reason or that guys voting for right wing extremists and killing “woke” people might have anything to do with their political views.

      • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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        114 days ago

        Well there is quite a lot of evidence to suggest this was a mental health issue.

        • @Doorbook@lemmy.world
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          514 days ago

          The thing is before evidence comes up we see the issue with reporting:

          • if black it is gang activity until proven otherwise
          • if brown it is terrorism until proven otherwise
          • if white it is mental health until proven otherwise
          • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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            014 days ago

            ok but there is evidence now. For instance, the family has tried to have the perp checked into a mental hospital 2 dozen times over the last year

    • @Paddzr@lemmy.world
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      514 days ago

      Report the comments.

      While yes, ideally it would’ve been nice if it didn’t happen, but there’s not enough mods to police this place. It’s still better than news… That place is a complete shitshow.

          • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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            214 days ago

            are you in north america? You may have a different dialect of english than north americans. This would explain the confusion. We do not consider ourselves americans, because american is the demonym of the US.

            • @MehBlah@lemmy.world
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              -114 days ago

              I’m in the US but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played games online and had someone chastise me because they were also from america. Its kinda funny how you can get upset about being reminded of that while all those people get upset about being excluded.

              • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
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                113 days ago

                Ah. I’m not especially upset or anything, I am just trying to explain the difference in terminology.

                • @MehBlah@lemmy.world
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                  113 days ago

                  I wasn’t implying you were upset. I just found it humorous how one person can see something one way and another person who lives close by you can see it exactly the opposite. Not that recent events haven’t altered that ratio.

    • @jaredt@lemmy.ca
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      314 days ago

      There was also an attack on the Afzaal family in London (Ontario) by a white nationalist with a pickup truck because they were visibly Muslim

    • @vxx@lemmy.world
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      114 days ago

      They’re preemtively calling him radicalised, not realising how radicalised they’re themselves.

  • @corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    215 days ago

    ITT: hillbilly gun-clutchers who don’t realize cars are only working when you don’t hit something, and guns are only working when you do hit something.

    • TheTechnician27
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      15 days ago

      ITT: people who don’t realize that none of us are supporting guns. We’re drawing a comparison between the same ridiculous-ass logic that right-wingers apply to guns to try to stall and misdirect from concrete regulation and the exact same rhetoric people in this thread are making in defense of car culture and lack of regulation and safeguards around cars. Strict gun regulation is good; strict car regulation is good. Strict gun regulation would deter many mass-shootings in the US. Strict car regulation (including even basic considerations for pedestrian safety at the slight expense of cars) would deter car-ramming attacks.

      “Why are you talking about guns cars at a time like this? I can’t believe you’re using this tragic mass-shooting mass-ramming to soapbox about gun car regulation. This isn’t the time to talk about how we let guns cars be so dangerous and how the direct result was this shooting ramming. The real cause of this was a mental health crisis. Society needs guns cars to protect ourselves get around. What do you mean, ‘Do I ever bring up this mental health crisis outside of mass-shootings mass-rammings?’ Uhh…”

      • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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        714 days ago

        It is in the sense that vehicle traffic shouldn’t be next to pedestrian areas, eliminating the opportunity for such an event to happen in the first place. At a minimum, there should be strong bollards, because mechanical failures can and do happen.

      • @ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        214 days ago

        Tbf that’s what everyone else does after a mass shooting, why wouldn’t c/fuckcars do the exact same thing? I expected it myself, especially considering how fanatical that comm is.