A driver plowed into a group of partygoers attending a Filipino street festival on Saturday evening in Vancouver, British Columbia, killing at least nine people, according to the local authorities.

Vancouver police said earlier that they were investigating a “mass casualty incident” at a neighborhood block party. The police said they had taken “a lone suspect” into custody at the scene: the driver, a 30-year-old Vancouver man.

Investigators had ruled out terrorism as a motive, Vancouver police said in an email, but they did not offer further details. Photographs published by news agencies showed what appeared to be a black SUV with significant damage to the front of the vehicle, and its airbags deployed.

“At approximately 8:14 p.m. on April 26, a man drove into a large crowd of people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street,” the Vancouver police said in a post on social media. The annual event celebrates Datu Lapu Lapu, a national hero in the Philippines.

“As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night’s Lapu Lapu Festival,” the police said in another post on social media early Sunday. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident.”

In a news conference, Steve Rai, the interim police chief, did not address a possible motive for the incident, but said the driver had been known to the police. Members of the crowd had subdued the man before officers got to the scene, he said.

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