Teacher identified among those killed in vehicle ramming at Vancouver street festival [Video]

VANCOUVER, BC – A teacher and school counselor was identified Monday as one of the 11 people killed when a driver plowed a sport-utility vehicle through a crowd at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver over the weekend.

Kira Salim worked at two schools in the New Westminster School District southeast of Vancouver, the district said in a statement.

Salim “was a valued member of our community whose wisdom and care for our middle and secondary school students had a powerful impact,” the district’s superintendent and board chair wrote. “Their work, and the great spirit they brought to it, changed lives.”

The black Audi SUV sped down a closed, food-truck-lined street just after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, which celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century.

Thirty-two people were hurt, and 17 were still hospitalized late …