1 week Ago By Ari Yanover
The streets surrounding the crime scene where at least 11 were killed and dozens more injured were eerily silent on Sunday. Under cloudy skies, a chilly wind swept across Fraser Street, now an empty corridor cordoned off with yellow police tape. Uniformed police officers in groups of three knocked on doors around 43rd Ave.
, quietly canvassing witnesses, while Vancouverites of all ages, some from as far away as the North Shore, gathered to express their profound shock and share their grief at three spontaneous memorials that grew throughout the day. Just beyond the sawhorse barricades, green plastic evidence markers tracked the pathway on 43rd where a black Audi SUV barrelled down just after 8:15 Saturday night at the closing hour of a Lapu Lapu Day celebration community members called vibrant, and festive. “I’m scared,” said Aarib Mohamed, 10, whose family lives on the street where the incident occurred.
His father, Ismail Mohamed, brought Aarib so they could pay their respects at a growing memorial of flowers at the corner of Prince Edward and 43rd. Mohamed struggled to make sense of it: how one moment everyone was happy, and then out of nowhere, everything changed. “All day we felt safe, and then suddenly it was chaos,” said Mohamed.
He dropped into the festival three times throughout the day. When he stepped out of his home for the last time, there was a body on the ground. And another.
The implications of the attack have rocked him to the core. “Everyone has a vehicle. If nobody can stop that vehicle, no one is safe.
” While many community members attended vigils at local churches on Sunday, some were too distraught. “My mother was crying so much she couldn’t leave the house,” said Danica Bagarinao, 18. Bagarinao, a member of the Filipino community, went to church with a friend, then came to lay an arrangement of scarlet peonies by a fire hydrant on Fraser street at the corner of 44th Ave.
“It feels like my heart is breaking.” “So many people we know were there,” said Bagarinao, who grew up in the neighbourhood and attended the Lapu Lapu Day festival with her dad. “We especially wanted to come this year because the weather was bad last year, and this year the Black Eyed Peas were performing.
” Bagarinao said she and her father left the concert area at 7:50 p.m. and went home.
At 8:30, they started getting calls saying there had been an accident, and asking if they were safe. There was not enough public information last night, said Bagarinao, as families desperately tried to contact loved ones. “All we had to go on was Reddit.
” Jackie Bonsal wept openly as she and her daughter Londyn, 8, laid flowers at the corner of 41st Ave. and Fraser, by the fence of John Oliver Secondary. They just want to do something to help.
“There are no words,” said Bonsal. The family lives nearby. “We feel so sorry, and so very sad for the families.
” Bella A., who is Filipino but did not want to share her last name, wiped away tears. She still doesn’t know whether any of her friends are among the dead and injured.
“We are all hardworking people. We come here to work, to help people, to take care of our families. They did not deserve this.
” Bella chose white flowers, she said, because they represent peace and eternal life. She wrote a note, and put a sticker representing the flag of the Philippines on the arrangement. “May they rest in peace,” she said.
89-year-old Wladyslaw Leczyk came slowly, on foot, steadied by a cane, carrying a bag of red and white carnations which he placed with care among the teddy bears and tributes. “I have many Filipino friends from church,” he said. “One of them is not answering the phone.
” Saul Schneider, who lives nearby, came alone, and lit a candle. “This is unspeakable,” he said. “I am reaching out to our friends and neighbours and shopkeepers and nurses to say we love you.
” Like others who gathered on the windswept corner of Fraser and 41st, Schneider was processing a sense of shock, disbelief and heartbreak. “This is not Vancouver. Not the Vancouver we truly are.
” Schneider said he hopes that people reflect on the deeper issues that may be at the root of what happened. “This is not just about better barriers at festivals. All levels of government need to pause and reflect on what can be done to address mental health in this province.
” Related'Bodies everywhere': 11 people killed, many injured at Lapu Lapu Day in VancouverMoment of silence after deadly Vancouver festival crash marks start of Sun Run.
