Suspect in Vancouver festival tragedy is brother of 2024 killing victim

VANCOUVER — Vancouver Police have confirmed that the suspect in Saturday’s deadly ramming attack that killed 11 people in the city is the brother of a man who died in an unrelated killing last year.

Thirty-year-old Adam Kai-Ji Lo — who has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder with more charges anticipated — is the brother of Alexander Lo, who was killed in January last year in Vancouver.

A fundraiser was set up by Adam Lo for his brother’s funeral expenses, but it has since been removed from the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform.

Adam Lo wrote that his brother had been killed in a “senseless act of violence” and that despite their “disagreements,” the death had hit him with “overwhelming force.”

A second request for funding was set up by Adam Lo in September 2024, where he said his mother tried to take her own life after his brother’s killing.

Dwight Kematch was arrested at the home where Alexander Lo’s body was found, and he was charged with second-degree murder in November, but the case is the subject of a publication ban.

“I’m burdened with remorse for not spending more time with him,” Adam Lo wrote in the online crowdfunding pitch to cover his brother’s funeral expenses.

“I can’t disclose all the details, but the painful reality is that he won’t be returning, leaving my mother with an indescribable sorrow for a son she brought into this world, only to see him depart so suddenly,” it said.

The later fundraising page for his mother said she had “immense bills to pay and has struggled for a long time due to high interest rates,” while also having difficulty finding work.

Adam Lo said he found her unconscious in her bed, and she was taken to the hospital.

“I feared I had lost the only family member I have left,” Lo wrote. “Her suspected overdose came as a shock, but I knew she was grieving the loss of my brother and struggling immensely with her finances.”

Lo said he was seeking donations because he could “only feel confident in her well-being if she is confident in her ability to pay her bills and, ultimately, keep her home.”

Kematch has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer did not return a message seeking comment.

Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said on Sunday that Adam Lo had had numerous interactions with police and mental health workers.

Sgt. Steve Addison, who confirmed that Lo’s brother had been killed last year, also told a news briefing on Monday that police in a neighbouring jurisdiction had contact with Lo on Friday, the day before the festival attack.

He said the interaction “was not criminal in nature and it didn’t rise to the level where it required mental health intervention.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2024.

Darryl Greer and Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press