At about 8pm on Sunday, local time, in Vancouver's Sunset neighbourhood, the Lapu-Lapu Day block party celebrating a Philippine national hero was taking place.
The festivities included a street party featuring Filipino food and traditions, live performances, and cultural displays.
Chaos unfolded shortly after.
The party was starting to wind down but many people were still in the streets when a black vehicle was seen driving erratically moments before it ploughed into a crowd.
More than 11 people, aged between five and 65, were killed, and dozens were injured.
Witnesses who saw the incident have recalled the horrific details.
How it unfolded
James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the celebration and heard a car rev its engine and then "a loud noise, like a loud bang" that he initially thought might be a gunshot.
"We saw people on the road crying, others were running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured," Mr Cruzat said.
Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the festival when he saw police rushing in. People were crying and he saw bodies.
"It was something straight out of a horror movie or a nightmare," he said.
According to witnesses, the suspect tried to escape after the attack but was chased down and held by festival-goers until police arrived.
When police arrived, they arrested the man that they described as having had a "significant history" of interactions with authorities involving mental health.
Murder charges have been filed against the suspect, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the British Columbia Prosecution Service.
Video circulating on social media showed a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.
"I'm sorry," the man said, holding his hand to his head.
"This is the darkest day in our city's history," Vancouver Interim Chief Constable Steve Rai said at a conference on Sunday.
He said dozens of people were injured, some critically, and warned that the death toll could rise in the coming days and weeks.
'I'm scared, I'm scared'
Carayn Nulada said that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the SUV. She said that her daughter suffered a narrow escape.
"The car hit her arm, and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared," Ms Nulada said.
She described children screaming and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.
"I saw people running, and my daughter was shaking."
Ms Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital's emergency room early on Sunday morning trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones.
Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle and said that he was stable but would require surgery.
Adonis Quita said that when he saw the SUV ramming through the crowd, his first reaction was to drag his nine-year-old son out of the area.
The boy kept saying: "I'm scared, I'm scared," Mr Quita said.
Later, they prayed together. His son had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines with his mother to reunite with Mr Quita, who has lived here since 2024. Mr Quita said he worried the child would struggle to adjust to life in Canada after witnessing the horrific event.
Images from the scene showed the bodies of victims on the pavement alongside a row of colourful food trucks as others attended to them on a roadway littered with debris.
A photo of the aftermath posted online showed a dark Audi SUV with both front fenders crumpled and the hood pushed up toward the vehicle's windshield.
A witness who did not wish to be identified said he had seen about 15 people lying on the ground after the SUV struck the crowd.
"I didn't get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev," Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, said in an interview with Postmedia.
"I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there's just bodies everywhere,"
Mr Vardeh said.
"He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle."
The attack came at the end of the festival, following a concert headlined by Filipino-American rapper Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas, according to Mable Elmore, a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly who attended the event.
"Everybody was happy and getting ready to go. And that's when, that's when the incident happened," Ms Elmore said while in tears.
"We are in incredible pain.
"We will come together out of this catastrophe through the support and the love from the broad community," she said.
Vigil honours victims
Hundreds of people gathered Sunday evening for a vigil honouring the victims.
"It's sad. Really sad," Emily Daniels said, who brought a bouquet.
"I can't believe something like this could happen so close to home."
Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter also carried flowers. They had attended the festival on Saturday, and Nairn recounted seeing the damaged SUV and bodies on the ground.
"Something really dark happened last night," she said, as she and her daughter wiped away tears.
