Four people remain in critical condition in hospital and another two remain in serious condition, five days after the deadly attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver on April 26.
Thirteen people remain in hospital, Vancouver Police Department Sgt. Steve Addison said during the latest daily update on Thursday (May 1). He added the streets have now reopened at the crime scene.
Addison said the department's community support centre, that was supposed to only be open through to the end of the week, will now be open through the weekend and with extended hours. It will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at East 43rd and St. George streets.
"There's been a tremendously positive reception from the community. Approximately 150 people visited the first day and a half of that community support centre was open. We actually had a lineup of people who were waiting for it to open yesterday morning."
He said as time goes on, more people are making he decision to come forward and share their first-person experience. He said many of those people are going to the media, but not the police.
"Although we've identified more than 200 witnesses, we still ask people to come forward if they are a witness, and they haven't yet spoken to our investigators. We know there were a lot of people present when this vehicle attack occurred, and there may be people who left, who believe that there are other witnesses there and they don't need to come forward," Addison said.
"What I can, what I want to implore, that if you're a witness, if you were there, you haven't yet come forward, what you what you have to say is incredibly important to us."
First court date set
The suspect, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, is expected in Vancouver provincial court Friday, May 2. The appearance is under a publication ban.
Lo is so far facing eight counts of second-degree murder. Addison has said additional charges are expected.
Eleven people were killed – seven women, two men, one non-binary person and a five-year-old girl – and at least two dozen more were injured, ranging in age from 22 months old to 60 years old, when a Lo is alleged to have driven an SUV through the crowd at the Vancouver festival on Saturday, April 26.
Addison said Thursday that Lo did have a valid B.C. driver's licence at the time of the attack. He was arrested at the scene.
The Vancouver Police Department has been providing daily update on the attack, but Sgt. Steve Addison said Thursday was expected to be the last daily update unless any major updates occur.
