Killer of Lapu Lapu suspect’s brother calls festival attack a ‘ripple effect’

By Canadian Press on January 16, 2026.

VANCOUVER — The murderer of a young man whose brother was later arrested for the Lapu Lapu festival attack that killed 11 people last year says it was a “ripple effect” from his own crime.

Dwight Kematch, who has pleaded guilty to the January 2024 second-degree murder of Alexander Lo, told his B.C. Supreme Court sentencing hearing in Vancouver that what followed the killing was a “horrendous tragedy.”

The hearing is being attended virtually by Adam Kai-Ji Lo, who is charged with 11 counts of murder over the April 2025 festival attack.

Kematch, who stabbed Alexander Lo to death in January 2025 after meeting him via the gay dating app Grindr, says he stole his victim from his family, calling Adam Kai-Ji Lo a “caring brother.”

Adam Kai-Ji Lo was arrested about 15 months later at the scene of the festival attack and charged with 11 counts of murder.

Kematch says of his own crime that he understands “the causal effect about what later transpired.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2026.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press