‘Hard to accept’ festival attack suspect was under mental health care: Vancouver mayor

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says the city will review safety protocols after the Lapu Lapu Day tragedy and is calling for urgent mental health reforms.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it is “hard to accept” that the man accused of killing 11 people at a street festival was on leave from a hospital and under the care of a mental health team at the time of the attack.

The mayor says the B.C. government must do more to address failures in the mental health care system, including expanding mandatory care for people in severe crises, especially those who may pose a risk to themselves or others.

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“The mental health crisis is not just a health crisis,” Sim told reporters gathered at city hall on Wednesday. “It’s become a public safety crisis.”

The mayor made the comments one day after B.C. Premier David Eby said his government would launch an independent commission into the Filipino festival attack if the pending criminal case against the suspect does not provide adequate answers.

The premier said his government would be holding a public inquiry already if it weren’t for the police investigation and likely criminal trial.

The Vancouver Coastal Health authority says 30-year-old Kai-ji Adam Lo gave “no indication of violence” to his mental health workers prior to the attack.

“The alleged driver of the vehicle was under the care of a mental health team and on extended leave in accordance with the Mental Health Act,” a spokesperson for the health authority said in a statement Tuesday.

“Extended leave is intended to help clients maintain their treatment plans while transitioning back to community for ongoing support.”

• Read more: Man accused in mass killing at Vancouver Filipino festival was on leave from hospital

Standing alongside city’s acting police chief, Sim said the health authority’s response “is incredibly difficult to hear and even hard to accept because it points to a deeper failure in the mental health system.”

Last year, the province announced it was opening 400 beds in high-security facilities for people to be held under the Mental Health Act. Sim says the program must be expanded beyond its current scope immediately.

“How many more inquiries do we need?” he asked. “How many more reviews do we need? We see a recurring pattern of people suffering from significant mental health challenges that lead up to significant negative incidents.”

Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said Tuesday that the attack on the Lapu Lapu festival was not being investigated as a hate crime, but as an “indiscriminate act of violence.”

Ten people remain in hospital, seven in critical and three in serious condition, including a 22-month-old boy, Addison said.

Eby on Tuesday acknowledged the province needs an “urgent expansion of mental health supports” saying there are already 2,000 beds available in the province for doctors and nurses to hold people involuntarily under the Mental Health Act.

Eby said the province will put together a commission to inform event and festival planners about public safely lessons from the attack by June.

The City of Vancouver has also launched an internal review of the events surrounding Saturday’s attack to look into its permitting and emergency response processes to identify lessons for future events, Sim said.

A preliminary report into the city review is expected to be announced in the next two weeks.

There were no barriers blocking the entrances to the Lapu Lapu event. A previous order of security barriers from a U.S. company has been expedited so they can be in place for this weekend’s Vancouver Marathon.

With files from The Canadian Press