Pinoy boxing icon recalls narrow escape at Vancouver festival tragedy

Olympic boxing bronze medalist and entrepreneur Rey Fortaleza came within a minute of a potential tragedy — and didn’t even realize it until much later.

Fortaleza and his wife were among the thousands of Filipino-Canadians who attended the Lapu Lapu Day Filipino street festival on Saturday evening in Vancouver.

“We had just come out of the Black Eyed Peas concert at the school grounds,” said Fortaleza, publisher and CEO of "Philippine Asia News Today" and "Philippine Showbiz Today."

“My wife went ahead to the car. I stayed behind because I wanted to buy some street corn from one of the food trucks along Fraser Street — there must’ve been around 50 of them.”

Luckily, he bumped into a couple of friends who offered him their corn, so he didn’t have to wait.

“I took it, said thanks, and headed to the car. My wife and I were just sharing the corn when we suddenly heard sirens blaring,” Fortaleza recalled.

At the time, he thought nothing of it and drove home.

It wasn’t until later that he learned what had really happened: A man had driven an SUV into the crowd, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 20. The suspect, a 30-year-old local known to police, was arrested at the scene.

Fortaleza only realized the seriousness of the situation when messages started flooding in through Messenger.

“I immediately tried to call the friends I saw at the festival. They weren’t answering. Later, one of them told me he had to push people out of the way when he saw the SUV coming,” he said.

Fortaleza was at the festival not just to enjoy the festivities but also to promote an event he’s organizing in Surrey this July — Surrey Fiesta Extravaganza.

“We had a tent set up to promote our two-day event. We packed it up before the concert started,” he said.

The street was packed with people — Filipinos and Canadians alike. “At the concert alone, there must’ve been around 5,000 of us standing shoulder to shoulder,” he said.

Fortaleza still can’t wrap his head around how the SUV got onto the street.

“I know the street was closed. There was a barrier. Maybe he came in from the other side, where it’s more residential,” he speculated.

According to Fortaleza, the Filipino community in Canada is strong and vibrant, 1.7 million nationwide, with about 750,000 in Vancouver alone.