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27 Apr 2025: "Several people killed, others injured after vehicle drives into Vancouver street festival crowd: police"

The accused Kai-Ji “Adam” LO has been charged so far with eight counts of murder. I looked him up on the BC court registry and there don’t seem to be any prior criminal charges. He may not have prior criminal history.
 
brihard said:
The accused Kai-Ji “Adam” LO has been charged so far with eight counts of murder. I looked him up on the BC court registry and there don’t seem to be any prior criminal charges. He may not have prior criminal history.
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So many previous interactions with police, health system etc....

Driver charged with 8 counts of murder in Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day tragedy​

Kai-ji Adam Lo had dozens of interactions with police related to his deteriorating mental health.

The man who allegedly plowed through a crowd enjoying a Filipino festival in southeast Vancouver, killing 11, lost his brother to murder last year.

Kai-ji Adam Lo, charged Sunday with eight counts of murder, had dozens of interactions with police related to his deteriorating mental health.

Last year, he wrote on a fundraising page to cover his brother Alexander’s funeral costs that “it pains me deeply to put these words down, but my brother has been taken from us in a senseless act of violence, something we never saw coming.”

“Our reality has abruptly shifted. Despite our disagreements, the harsh truth that he’s no longer with us hits me with an overwhelming force,” Adam Lo said.

The body of Alexander Lo, 31, was found in a home near Knight Street and East 33rd Avenue about 1 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2024.

Dwight William Kematch, 39, was arrested at the house and later charged with second-degree murder.

Lo wrote about how devastated his family was as he thanked donors for contributing more than $9,000 for his brother’s funeral.

“I’m burdened with remorse for not spending more time with him,” he said. “I implore you to keep his soul in your thoughts and prayers.”

Months later, in August, he again asked the public for donations to help his family after his mother attempted suicide and ended up in hospital for a month.

“The unimaginable grief brought upon my mother is something that is worse than my own sadness. For she brought him into this world, only for him to leave abruptly, it is a sadness I cannot being to express,” he said. “She lost a son already and is on the verge of losing her home. This has driven her to attempt to take her own life.”

Lo had no prior criminal record, according to the online court database.

Sources told Postmedia that a family member had contacted a hospital psych ward hours before Sunday’s attack because of Lo’s deteriorating mental health. It’s not known what action, if any, was taken. He was believed to be suffering from delusions and paranoia.

Police said they’ve had significant interactions with Lo — as did health care professionals — due to his mental health issues. Some were recent.

Politicians of all stripes who have commented on the mass tragedy at the Lapu Lapu festival have been asked about support for people with serious mental health problems.

Premier David Eby said Sunday the attacker was obviously “profoundly ill.”

“We have a huge need in the province for interventionist mental health services,” he said, noting that the province just opened secure involuntary beds at Surrey pretrial jail.

www.timescolonist.com

Driver charged with 8 counts of murder in Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day tragedy

Kai-ji Adam Lo had dozens of interactions with police related to his deteriorating mental health.
www.timescolonist.com www.timescolonist.com
 
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OldSolduer said:
What is more humane?

Letting the mentally ill who cannot care for themselves live under bridges and in tents?

Or safely housing them and ensuring they get the care they need?

Jail is not the answer. We’re not trained nor equipped for them.

Sorry to digress.
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Not jails or penitentiaries but we need to bring bay Sanitoriums or Asylums.

My father would be firmly in your camp.
 
The old system of sanitoriums had many problems, there were some terrible abuses that occurred, along with the varieties of 'treatments' attempted over the year (lobotomies, forced castration, etc)

But.

I will note that there appears to be a correlation between the closure of these types of facilities and the incidence of mass casualty/mass shooting events.

Before 1970, they were very uncommon, practically unheard of. Since then...well...here we are.

People cutting heads off and eating the victims, mass shootings, vehicular homicides, and more.

What we had before wasn't good...what we have now is arguably getting worse.
 
You need well trained psychiatrists, RN's, general duty docs/PA's/NP's, security staff, preferably Corrections Officers or at least someone with sworn peace officer status in order to lay hands on someone legally and safely, as well as ancillary staff to look after these folks. They cost money, as do the facilities needed, particularly for forensic type patients/inmates. Everybody wants these facilities until they find out the costs...it's hard enough trying to find a general duty psychiatrist for primary care purposes in my province on a good day - they don't mint enough of them and residency is i want to say 5 years now post medical school...just like wanting to involuntarily admit people with primary addictions diagnoses - that's a post-grad of 3-4 years for a family med doc - 2 years FM with a +1 or 2 in addictions or a post grad of an extra fellowship year for a shrink. It's a treatable disease, but it is a chronic one with a lot of nuance.

$0.02 pre-tax...
 
Listening to a photo-journalist they interviewed on the radio who was there, was impressed at the speed of the initial response and how quickly the emergency services organized themselves.

A sad byproduct of this is that street festivals will have to get more security and that is going to drive up the cost of events and limit who can run them.
 
Of course he was....


Accused killer at Lapu Lapu festival was in care of Vancouver mental health team: province​


The suspect in the Lapu Lapu festival tragedy in Vancouver was under the care of a mental health team at the time.

70c8fc80

The Ministry of Health confirmed on Tuesday that 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo was under the care of Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) mental health team and was being supervised under the Mental Health Act.

“The individual was being followed closely by his care team,” the Ministry of Health stated in an update.


globalnews.ca

Accused killer at Lapu Lapu festival was in care of Vancouver mental health team: province | Globalnews.ca

As of Tuesday morning, 16 patients remain in hospital, some in critical condition, and 13 patients have been discharged with non-life-threatening injuries.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
 
OldSolduer said:
What is more humane?

Letting the mentally ill who cannot care for themselves live under bridges and in tents?

Or safely housing them and ensuring they get the care they need?

Jail is not the answer. We’re not trained nor equipped for them.

Sorry to digress.
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So to further this there are some people who are not clinically insane. We call them that but they aren't.

Sorry for the digression - there was a serial killer who was released on a day pass unescorted. First thing he did? He murdered some one.

These ones need to be kept off the streets.
 
Resources are thin enough as is, and he doesn’t seem to have criminal history. Nobody would be putting surveillance on someone with mental illness who’s been granted an unescorted visit pass by a clinician.
 
Hearings are held by lawyers for people in mental hospitals (against their will) after the first week and then every week after since it's depriving someone of their charter rights.

Lots of people on the street that probably shouldn't be; hospitalizing them all against their will would be a logistical nightmare now.
 
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brihard said:
Resources are thin enough as is, and he doesn’t seem to have criminal history. Nobody would be putting surveillance on someone with mental illness who’s been granted an unescorted visit pass by a clinician.
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Absolutely, but for Vancouver Health to put out the press release that they did smells like damage control.
 
Vancouver Mayor pissed, Eby back peddling...


Mental health trouble leads to public safety issues, Vancouver's mayor says​


People are "sick and tired" of inquiries and reviews into a recurring pattern of people in a mental health crisis becoming involved in violent incidents, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said Wednesday.

His comments came days after an SUV was driven at high speed through a crowd at a Vancouver festival held by the Filipino community, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more.

The mayor said the man accused of the attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival was under the care of a mental health team and on "extended leave," a term referring to leave from involuntary treatment.

"This is incredibly difficult to hear and even harder to accept because it points to a deeper failure in the mental health system," Sim said. "The mental health crisis is not just a health crisis. It has become a public safety crisis."

British Columbia Premier David Eby later addressed some of Sim's criticisms, saying there would be a review and modernization of the Mental Health Act.

"Well, the concern of the mayor and my concern about the need for people who are struggling in our streets to get care, even if they're not able to ask for it, is exactly why I brought Dr. Daniel Vigo on, an expert in this area," he said of the provincial chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders.

But Sim said he wondered how many more reports are needed into what they know is a pattern of mental health challenges that lead to "significant negative incidents."

"So sure, come up with another commission, come up with another report. They're important, but let's come up with action now."

www.castanet.net

Mental health trouble leads to public safety issues, Vancouver's mayor says - BC News

People are "sick and tired" of inquiries and reviews into a recurring pattern of people in a mental health crisis becoming involved in violent incidents, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said Wednesday.
www.castanet.net
 
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