VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — The suspect in a Canadian car-ramming attack that left 11 dead at a Filipino street party was charged with murder, police said Sunday, adding that additional charges were anticipated.

The suspect, identified as Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, of Vancouver, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

Lo, who appeared in court before being returned to police custody, was alleged to have acted deliberately and had a history of mental health problems, police said.

No motive has been confirmed for the Saturday evening attack in the western city of Vancouver, though terrorism was ruled out by police.

The ramming shocked the country a day before a general election dominated by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products and his threat to annex the northern neighbor, long a key ally and trading partner.

Police chief Steve Rai said the 30-year-old suspect drove a black Audi SUV and had a “significant history” of interaction with police and mental health care professionals.

The Filipino community had gathered in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood when festival goers were rammed by the SUV.

The celebration called the Lapu Lapu Festival commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a brief address to the nation, teared up as he addressed the tragedy.

Every family’s nightmare

“Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter,” he said. “Those families are living every family’s nightmare.”

An AFP reporter saw police officers at the scene Saturday evening, with parts of the festival venue cordoned off.

Footage posted online and verified by AFP showed the vehicle with a damaged hood parked on a street littered with debris, meters from first aid crews tending to people lying on the ground.

Eyewitness Dale Selipe told the Vancouver Sun that she saw injured children on the street after the vehicle drove into the crowd.

“There was a lady with her eyes staring up, one of her legs was broken. Another person was holding her hand trying to comfort her,” Selipe told the newspaper.

Bodies everywhere

Festival security guard Jen Idaba-Castaneto told a local news site that she saw bodies everywhere.

“You don’t know whom to help, here or there,” she said.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said in a tweet, “I am shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight.”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said in a statement he was “completely shattered to hear about the terrible incident.”