A Maple Ridge, B.C., man has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with Thursday night's fatal sushi restaurant crash.
Police say 51-year-old Brian Craig Irving killed two women and injured six others when he plowed his truck into a Maple Ridge sushi restaurant.
Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Dale Carr says the driver did not know anyone who was either inside the restaurant at the time of the incident, or anyone connected to ownership.
The victims, identified as 46-year-old Hyeshim Oh and 19-year-old SFU student Maija-Liisa Corbett, did not know each other.
Corbett, a recent Westview High School grad, had been having dinner with her friend around 6 p.m. when the truck hit Halu Sushi, at 203rd Street and Lougheed Highway.
Oh was an employee at the restaurant, but was not working at the time. The mother was picking up food for her family.
Witnesses say the driver accelerated through the strip mall parking lot before plowing into the restaurant.
"(He) didn't seem to hit his brakes, just a straight shot down the lane and hit the curb and flew through the window," says Charlie Nelson.
Craig is also charged with six counts of attempted murder - one of each of the six other people injured in the crash.
Three are still in serious condition at Royal Columbian Hospital.
A nine-year-old boy is among the injured. He was eating sushi with his teenaged sister when the accident happened.
