‘Just wreckage’: Vancouver police, witnesses recall Lapu Lapu tragedy on 1st anniversary - BERITAJA

Vancouver constabulary Sgt. Jesse Schellenberg was connected displacement the nighttime of April 26, 2025.

He was driving successful the area of Fraser Street and East 41st Avenue erstwhile calls started coming successful about a pedestrian hit-and-run nearby.

As much constabulary officers raced to the scene, it quickly became evident location were aggregate victims involved.

“I’m not moreover judge you could picture the scary that I first saw,” Schellenberg told BERITAJA.

“You get retired of your car and you conscionable spot everything that has been successful reports and each the scary that was successful beforehand of you.”

Vancouver constabulary Const. Bronwyn Kirk was besides connected moving that night.

“I retrieve conscionable looking down 42nd from Fraser and it was conscionable absolute chaos,” she said.

“There were group screaming, group lying connected the crushed and I deliberation successful that infinitesimal I couldn’t really process what precisely I was looking astatine because successful my caput we were going to a deed and run.”

Vancouver constabulary Const. Jamie DeBacker said she turned a area and saw aggregate group lying connected the ground.

It was a clear and sunny Saturday erstwhile hundreds of group gathered connected the grounds and the surrounding thoroughfare of John Oliver Secondary School to observe Filipino culture, nutrient and people.

“Everything conscionable benignant of fell into spot truthful perfectly, on pinch the weather, conscionable for illustration it was … a really typical time aliases for illustration a batch of happy smiling families,” Christi-Ann Watkins, a performer astatine the show and a survivor.

“It was a really awesome point to experience.”

“With an arena that big, obviously, there’s a batch of different things that request to beryllium taken attraction of, truthful we’re each divided up into teams,” Watkins said.

“I was helping retired the accumulation team, truthful on pinch being a performer myself, DJ’ing connected the main shape and the smaller stages, I was besides organizing the breakdance title that was happening astatine the smaller stage, connected the creation stage.”

Joe Tuliao was the imaginative head of the show and said the vibe was electric.

“Honestly, truthful memorable having, you know, Black Eyed Peas execute their iconic songs and connected that John Oliver section that was conscionable afloat of group and jumping and each that,” Tuliao said. “I still retrieve it to this day; erstwhile I looked done footage of that, it was a surreal moment.”

Tuliao said that erstwhile the show ended, he and his squad did the rounds to adjacent retired the 3 main stages and after, they decided to get immoderate nutrient from the nutrient trucks arsenic they hadn’t eaten each day.

Watkins and Tuliao met up astatine the nutrient trucks pinch a mini group and were already talking about the 2026 arena — what they could do and really they could amended the festival.

It was “around 8 o’clock, because I retrieve right, arsenic we were chatting, Joe had taken a selfie of each of america together,” Watkins said.

Five minutes later, a car drove done the crowd, striking dozens of people.

One of the nutrient trucks location that time was the Kampong Food Truck, serving up authentic Malay food.

Owner/operator Mohamad Sariman said they were truthful engaged each day, they didn’t moreover get a break themselves. But they were happy.

“We were each enjoying dancing, each my workers were for illustration enjoying and dancing and we’re very happy connected that day, actually,” Mohamad said.

But calamity struck wherever moments earlier they had been serving happy customers their delicious food.

“I heard a large bang, for illustration a large noise, and I thought it was an explosion,” Mohamad said. “Immediately, my caput was, you know, looking retired the model and I saw a assemblage flying right, for illustration rather high, supra present and past I was like, oh, bang, past she fell.

“I didn’t spot the car because he must person gone past, but it was for illustration a astonishment for me. And past we looked retired of the window, we had seen a batch of bodies lying about each the measurement location actually.”

Saadiah Sariman, cook astatine the Kampong Food Truck, said she saw the achromatic car driving past, fast, and past she heard the noise.

“I saw each the bodies successful beforehand of present and astatine the backmost too,” she said. “Like I was truthful shaking, you know?”

Tuliao said he thought they were being attacked. He ran down a nutrient motortruck pinch his friend to hide.

Watkins said she remembers everything.

“I conscionable remember, the only point that makes consciousness to maine astatine the clip was ‘I’m getting deed by something,'” she said. “Just for illustration the crashing of metal, the sounds of metallic and conscionable images of agleam lights, of conscionable getting hit. I can’t explicate it immoderate much than that, but conscionable I cognize what my acquisition was.”

She said personification ran to her to put their hands against her head, telling her not to move her neck. She could perceive personification other performing CPR connected a female adjacent by, saying she had nary pulse.

Watkins said she worried instantly because her boy has shoulder-length hairsbreadth and is often mistaken for a woman and she started panicking.

It wasn’t her son; he was hurt, but he was alive.

“He had a laceration to the spleen and he had a fractured chemoreceptor bridge, truthful he had to beryllium successful the infirmary for, I think, 1 night,” Watkins said.

“He doesn’t retrieve thing astatine all. Nothing. And we’ve spoken to therapists and counselors and worldly and they’ve all, you know, person said that it’s conscionable his encephalon trying to protect him. So he decidedly saw a batch much than I did. He, yeah. But he doesn’t retrieve it.”

Watkins suffered a fractured correct knee, a fractured near pelvis, lacerations to her kidneys and spleen, surgery ribs connected her near side, a surgery bony successful her cervix and a immense laceration to her head, on pinch terrible roadworthy rash.

As Schellenberg surveyed the scene, his attraction was surgery by a ample group of group calling him over, cornering personification up against a fence.

“Based connected the totality of circumstances, I knew that this was apt the driver of the car,” he said.

Schellenberg was the first serviceman to brushwood the suspect.

“I could spot erstwhile I first parked that location was a car successful beforehand of maine that had its beforehand extremity smashed successful wholly and I understood that this was apt going to beryllium a wide casualty incident truthful I knew that this personification needed to beryllium arrested,” he said.

“So I grabbed him, I started stepping him distant from the area wherever everyone was containing him by the obstruction and the crowd started to move rather hostile. There were group grabbing onto myself, grabbing onto the suspect, truthful astatine that constituent I was beautiful worried that we were going to get swarmed and that it could move violent.”

Schellenberg said he and his partner ran retired of the area pinch the suspect. They arrested him and past Schellenberg near the fishy pinch his partner and returned to the scene.

DeBacker remembers looking down that thoroughfare lined pinch nutrient trucks connected either side.

“There is aggregate group saying ‘My family’s successful there, my friends are successful there.’ I besides person my power going on, but honestly, astatine that time, I could not make retired what was going connected successful my receptor because of conscionable each the worldly I was trying to return successful in beforehand of me,” she said.

Schellenberg said he doesn’t cognize if anyone successful the Vancouver Police Department has ever been portion of thing that catastrophic before.

“You effort and find the quiet ones,” he said. “You effort and find the group who can’t telephone retired for help, who are unconscious aliases losing consciousness, who person nary 1 other about them, who’s not caring for them and effort and get them care.”

One infinitesimal is stuck successful Schellenberg’s mind.

“As I travel back, I saw a small woman crying disconnected to the side,” he said. “She was about apt about 5 aliases six years old. And I saw 2 people, 2 ladies, who were holding up a telephone successful beforehand of her face. The woman was opinionated adjacent to a female who had passed connected the sidewalk. And this six-year-old had a telephone held up successful beforehand of her look and these 2 ladies were playing cartoons connected the telephone to effort and comfortableness this girl.

Schellenberg knew this wasn’t a spot for a child, truthful he asked the 2 ladies who were pinch the woman to move their girl retired of there.

“And they said, ‘It’s not our daughter.’ And I said, ‘Okay, well, whoever this is to you, could you effort and get your kid retired of there? ‘” he said.

“And they say, ‘Can you travel here, officer?’ So I leaned successful and they said that’s her mother, who had passed. This kid was trying to fig retired really to process that benignant of trauma adjacent to her dormant mom pinch a animation she had nary consciousness was moreover playing.”

Schellenberg recalled location were galore group stepping guardant to thief each different that day.

“There were group who were opinionated adjacent to deceased group for hours, guarding them for evidentiary purposes, to sphere their communicative to walk connected to follow-up investigators, and didn’t inquire for a thing,” he said.

“There were members who, finally, into the wee hours successful the morning, were offered a overgarment by members of the nationalist and I talked to them afterwards. They said they didn’t moreover recognize they were cold.”

DeBacker said it is truthful different being location successful person.

“One person, their life is truthful full,” she said. “So galore group are affected by 1 personification passing away. It’s heartbreaking really overmuch carnage and wounded and trauma this 1 personification caused.”

Kirk said she hasn’t been capable to spell backmost to the tract yet, but Schellenberg said he finds it treatment to thrust done the area.

“It’s my city, it’s my block, I tally it. I’ll do what I want and I won’t fto that incident make maine consciousness otherwise.”

B.C. paramedic Eliza Rideout besides described bystanders stepping up to thief wherever they could.

“Everyone connected segment was helping successful immoderate way,” she said. “They were helping others link pinch their loved ones, helping bring people’s belongings to them, things for illustration that. There’s different bystanders that were, you know, family members that weren’t moreover astatine the show that were arriving to help, and seeing everyone conscionable coming together successful that organization and helping each different was very impactful.”

Rideout said that earlier she near activity that nighttime she sent her hubby a informing matter about what she had seen.

“So he stayed awake for maine that night, and I sewage home, I mean, we chatted for a agelong time, and we sat together for a lot, and a agelong clip that nighttime and I had a fewer tears earlier bed, yeah, and sewage up successful the greeting and went to activity again.”

Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry said 40 firefighters and 8 trucks responded to the wide casualty arena that April 26. She said 80 per cent of those firefighters revenge WorkSafeBC claims.

“So 32 group had progressive WorkSafe claims and we’ve had 2 not returned to work,” she said.

“It’s still really raw. It’s really earthy pinch our city, I think, pinch that community, I americium sure. And really raw, pinch our firefighters, that sticks pinch me.”

Eleven victims were killed successful the Lapu Lapu attack:

Jenifer Darbellay, 50

Kira Ganapol Salim, 34

Vicky Bjarnason, 55

Glitza Daniela Samper, 30

Glitza Maria Caicedo-Samper, 60

Daniel Samper Toro, 65

Jendhel Sico, 27

Richard Le, 47

Katie Le, 5

Linh Hoang, 30

Nerissa Pagkanlungan, 46

Watkins said she has returned to the tract of the calamity twice.

“I struggle,” she said. “It was really, really melodramatic and scary, but it’s besides for illustration knowing what that time was, really beautiful it was earlier each that.

“I decidedly tried to debar going for a really, really agelong clip because I was acrophobic of really it was gonna impact me. But I had to sojourn earlier they moved the memorial, conscionable truthful that I could spot really group benignant of sent their good wishes and their thoughts and their prayers, and conscionable I felt for illustration I owed it to myself to spot that successful person.”