A family and a festival: How Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day tragedy unfolded

Documents, interviews and social media show the family was wracked by Alexander Lo's killing, financial battles, what Adam Lo called a suicide attempt by their mother,

In January last year, Cirque du Soleil usher Alexander Lo made his final public post on his Facebook timeline, promoting the circus’ Kooza show.

Four days later, his brother responded. “Brother, we will get to see this together sometime,” wrote Adam Kai-Ji Lo.

But he knew it wasn’t to be.

Alexander Lo had already been found dead in an East Vancouver home on Jan. 28, 2024, the day after his Facebook post, police said. Dwight William Kematch was promptly arrested and charged with second-degree murder, in a case that is the subject of a publication ban.

The killing was part of a series of tumultuous events that upended the Lo family, culminating last weekend with Adam Lo’s arrest on murder charges after the Lapu Lapu Day festival tragedy that killed 11 people in Vancouver, less than three kilometres from the family home.

Documents, interviews, social media and other accounts show the family was wracked by Alexander Lo’s killing, financial battles, what Adam Lo called a suicide attempt by their mother, and his own descent into mental illness that included time in involuntary treatment. Festival patrons and vendors meanwhile described how a day of celebration and joy for the Filipino community was transformed into a barely imaginable scene of tragedy.

Hanging over the Lo family was the death of David Lo on Dec. 31, 2001. Social media posts showed Alexander and Adam Lo continued to mourn their father.

“Dad I miss you everyday there’s no one day that I don’t think about you,” Alexander posted around the 22nd anniversary of his father’s death.