Finch subway reopened after scare [Police remove suspicious package] (Toronto)

Thousands of commuters rode buses instead of the TTC subway Saturday after police closed the Finch station to investigate a suspicious package.

In the end, emergency task force officers determined a package they were sent to examine around 3:44 a.m. inside the station was not a bomb.

Details about its construction, where it was located and its disposition were not released.

TTC spokesman Marilyn Bolton said investigators did not provide details of the device, “but they did talk about some possible explosive device.”

She said shuttle buses were put into service from Finch to the Sheppard station.

Although no estimate of Saturday's ridership on the buses was available, she said “it’s a good thing it wasn’t a regular weekday, when we have so much more demand.”

Remember this?

Man dies in explosion at Toronto Tim Hortons
LAUREN LA ROSE
Canadian Press
April 2, 2006 at 8:22 PM EDT

Toronto — The heart of Toronto’s trendy Yorkville shopping district was shocked to a standstill Sunday afternoon after an apparent explosion killed one man at a Tim Hortons outlet.

Police ruled out initial reports that a man had entered the washroom shortly before the blast with explosives strapped to his body, with investigators saying the explosion was caused by gasoline or a similar accelerant, Toronto police Don Staff-Sgt. Cole said Sunday evening.

“He’s not a strap-on al-Qaeda bomber guy,” Staff-Sgt. Cole said. “It sounds to me like a guy who either wanted to do a torch job or commit suicide.”

A customer entered the washroom and noticed the smell of gasoline coming from the stall, Sgt. Cole said. The customer then saw the gasoline can and fled the washroom only moments before the explosion, he said.

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair described the incident as a fire rather than a bombing. He refused to specify whether it was deliberate or accidental, but said police were not looking for suspects.

“It appears that there has been a very hot and intense fire in an enclosed area within the washroom,” Chief Blair said.

“Until we determine precisely what happened in that cubicle and what caused those flames that took that man’s life, I really can’t speculate.”

The male victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, has not been identified.

Tim Hortons spokesman Nick Javor confirmed the dead man was not an employee.

There were no other injuries, Chief Blair said.

Eunice Almeida, 23, a regular patron of the Tim Hortons outlet, said she spoke to employees shortly after it was evacuated. One woman told her the blast was felt as a sudden shock through the store.

“There was an explosion in the men’s washroom, then there was a stampede and everybody ran out,” Ms. Almeida said.

The ceiling fell down on the victim, bringing down a significant amounts of debris, including wires and batteries from an air-freshening device that might have contributed to suspicions of a bomb, Staff-Sgt. Cole said.

Later Sunday, another of the coffee franchise’s Toronto outlets was locked down after a suspicious package was found. Police confirmed an emergency task force unit was dispatched to the second location — just a few subway stations north of the first — and the area was evacuated.

The suspicious package turned out to be a clock in a shopping bag, Staff-Sgt. Cole said.

“There was a call by the people that worked at Tim Hortons doughnuts that a package had been left by a customer and they just were concerned about it, given what had transpired,” Blair said.

Fire crews responding to the first scene said there was still smoke in the air of the coffee shop when they arrived at around 1 p.m. after a 911 call.

“We weren’t witness to an explosion and there was a very small amount of smoke upon our arrival,” said fire department spokesman Daryl Fuglerud.

“It doesn’t appear that we could see much of a fire.”

Emergency workers attempted to revive the victim, but were unable to save him. Mr. Fuglerud said the man had burns to his body.

The body remained inside the coffee shop hours after the blast, while authorities cordoned off a block of busy Yonge Street and evacuated the area.

Passersby crowded on the sunny sidewalk along the yellow police tape and watched as a robotic bomb disposal unit was unloaded.

The fire marshal will be investigating, Mr. Fuglerud said.

A second loud bang was heard in the area at around 4 p.m. when police detonated a suspicious duffel bag found nearby as a precaution.

“(Police) dealt with it by exploding the package on the street,” Chief Blair said. “There was nothing in the package of a suspicious or problematic nature.”

Officers in white hazardous-materials suits were seen entering and leaving the store.

Employees were escorted from the scene appearing shaken, and some attempted to shield their faces from the throng of television cameras.

They refused questions, but Tim Hortons district manager Amin Islam said they were doing well.

For some reason I though it was a lot longer ago than April 2006.

Did they ever release the name of the guy that blew up? Their story on what caused the explosion never passed the smell test (no pun intended).

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