Kai-Ji Adam Lo, the suspect in the Vancouver street festival tragedy that left 11 people dead, has been ordered to undergo a mental fitness assessment to determine if he is fit to stand trial.
The application for the assessment was brought by Lo’s legal counsel, Mark Schwartz, and was granted by Judge Reginald Harris in provincial court Friday afternoon, a few hours before a memorial mass for the victims of the car-ramming attack.
Lo, 30, who is charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, appeared at the hearing via video link, sitting slumped over with dishevelled hair, and wearing red prison clothing.
His fitness assessment will be done from an in-custody facility with mental health professionals.
All other details of Lo’s appearance are covered by a court-ordered, pre-trial publication ban. Harris said the ban was necessary to ensure a fair and unbiased trial and jury should the case proceed to that end.
Lo is accused of driving an SUV through a crowd of people at the Filipino community’s Lapu-Lapu Day street festival on Saturday. Beyond the 11 people killed, dozens of others were injured in the alleged attack.
His next court appearance is May 30 when the fitness report is to be submitted to the court.
Vancouver police said earlier that more charges against Lo are expected. The British Columbia Prosecution Service told CBC it continues to receive and review disclosure materials from the Vancouver Police Department relating to the ongoing investigation.
Friday’s mass at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver at 5:10 p.m. is part of a provincial day of remembrance and mourning for the victims.
Premier David Eby who is expected to attend the mass, said the day of mourning would give people time to reflect on those who died and show solidarity with the Filipino community.
Eby, who was a human rights lawyer before going into politics, delivered a full-throated denunciation of the suspect during question period in the legislature on Thursday, saying the suspect “should spend the rest of his goddamned life in jail.”
He was responding to Conservative Peter Milobar, who asked why Eby could voice his opinion on the suspect when government had said in the past that it couldn’t discuss the deaths of children or seniors in care because matters were before the courts.
Eby said he struggled to understand Milobar’s position.
“Because my opinion is that the man made the decision to drive a vehicle into a crowd of children, parents, and seniors, volunteers, kill them,” said Eby.
“He’s facing eight charges of murder. In my opinion, he’s a murderer. It’s my opinion that he should spend the rest of his life in custody.”
Eby said that he would respect whatever decision was ultimately made by the courts, “but it will not change my opinion that this man did a despicable thing, did the most hateful thing.”
He said the suspect “ruined the work of thousands of people and traumatized thousands more, that he stole children from parents, parents from children,” his voice growing louder.
“I will stand up for the Filipino community, I will stand [up for] the victims and I will stand up for every right-minded, morally clear British Columbian and say that that man should spend the rest of his God damned life in jail.”
Health officials have said Lo was under the care of a mental health team, and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said Lo was on “extended leave,” a term used to refer to people under involuntary care, at the time of the alleged attack.
Steve Rai, Vancouver’s interim police chief, has said Lo had numerous interactions with police and mental health workers before the alleged attack.
Jonny Morris, the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s B.C. division, said there is “real fear” of reactionary moves in response to the tragedy that may not have the impact people are seeking.
But these could add to stigma around mental health, he said.
“I’m picking up fears that … because of the way it’s being framed, without the analysis of the system beyond the individual, will stigma increase?” he said.
“We’ve seen that after incidents like this. Will discrimination increase? Will employers say, ‘Oh, you have a mental illness. Oh, you might be violent. I’m not going to hire you.’ And what about landlords and people with mental illness? ‘Oh, we don’t want you living in our building because of your mental illness.’
“Because that’s how stigma works. That’s how discrimination works.”
Eby has promised a review of B.C.’s Mental Health Act and said there will be “full public inquiry” if the criminal case does not lead to answers.
Sim said Wednesday that the case pointed to a “deeper failure in the mental health system” and that people are “sick and tired” of inquiries into a recurring pattern of people in a mental health crisis becoming involved in violence.
Morris said any examination of the situation should be a systemic review of all factors that contributed and how the system can be improved.
