Vancouver Man Kills 11 in Car Ramming

Eleven people were killed and at least 20 were injured when a man drove a vehicle through a Philippine cultural event in Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday. The victims were celebrating Lapu-Lapu Day, which commemorates a Filipino warrior who fought Spanish colonizers in the 16th century.

The man, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder. The youngest killed was 5 years old; the oldest was 65.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended a vigil in a local church memorializing the dead. “In this incredibly difficult moment,” he posted on X, “we will comfort the grieving, care for one another, and unite in common purpose.”

Motive? Authorities have ruled out terrorism as a motive. Lo apparently had a history with police relating to mental health issues. Canadian media reported that a family member contacted a hospital’s psychiatric ward on Sunday, hours before the attack, out of concern for Lo’s deteriorating state. Lo reportedly had problems with “delusions and paranoia.”

Mass murder events like this in Canada are relatively rare. Yet they still happen. Why?

In Europe, car rammings are a favored tool of Islamic terrorists; yet jihadism was probably not a factor in this case. In the United States, mass murder events in schools are often linked to disturbed adolescents from difficult family backgrounds, but Lo is 30 years old.

At this time, this appears to be a mentally disturbed man listening to mental messages to do something terrible.

Where are the answers? In such circumstances, people often turn to religion to comfort those who mourn. Others question where God was in the tragedy.

In 2022, Trumpet executive editor Stephen Flurry wrote an article about the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The context is focused on why children become murderers, but the biblical principles he references still apply.

Please read “The Motives for Mass Shootings” to learn the Bible’s perspective.