By Canadian Press

Vancouver festival ramming is latest attack to use vehicles as deadly weapons

Apr 27, 2025 | 8:45 AM

MONTREAL — A car-ramming at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver that killed at least nine people marks Canada’s fourth attack in seven years in which vehicles have been used as deadly weapons.

Around the world, people fuelled by motives ranging from terrorism and far-right extremism to misogyny and mental illness have deployed the tactic increasingly in recent decades.

A San José State University study from 2018 notes that vehicles are “easily obtainable, and a ramming attack requires little preparation” or skill.

The gruesome practice has also proven devastating, yielding a high death toll in horrific fashion when crowds are gathered.

Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said a 30-year-old local man was arrested for Saturday night’s attack after an SUV plowed through a crowded South Vancouver street at high speed in a nightmarish scene that left a trail of wreckage and victims strewn on the ground.

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Police said on social media platform X they were “confident” the incident was not an act of terrorism.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press