A man was tasered and arrested during a confrontation with police Tuesday afternoon, capping a day in which two bomb scares closed down a stretch of Front Street West and raised fears someone was targeting Canada's spy agency.
It all began around 8 a.m. when a passerby called police to report two black suitcases left on the sidewalk outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and near a building that houses offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Royal Bank. They were also across the street from the headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Nearby, police found a deserted, dark-coloured Saab with keys still in the ignition.
The doors to the building containing CSIS and Royal Bank offices were locked, but the building was not evacuated.
Experts from the bomb-disposal unit used an X-ray and a robot to peer inside the luggage, leaving piles of clothing on the sidewalk.
By mid-day, it appeared the suitcases were innocuous, containing little more than clothes and toiletries. Constable Tony Vella said police had traced the car's owner and planned to lay nuisance charges.
“We have checked his address and examined inside the vehicle as well as the packages. It doesn't appear there is anything explosive or dangerous at this point,” he said.
Late in the afternoon, a man returned to the car with a black suitcase and satchel. When officers approached him, they said he became aggressive.
"The male was confronted by myself and he was suffering from mental health issues," said Sergeant Jason Shankaran, who fired the taser at the corner of John and Front streets. "He became physically aggressive."
The suitcase and satchel were not carrying explosives, either.
The man has been hospitalized for medical issues unrelated to the tasing, police said.
CSIS said it was aware of the incident, but that Toronto Police were in charge of the investigation.
“It is too early to speculate at this time as to the exact nature of this incident, nor of any links or threats against CSIS,” spokeswoman Isabelle Scott wrote in an e-mail.
The scenario of a possible bomb attack, or a dry run, is made more plausible by the fact that the suspicious suitcases were found outside Toronto’s CSIS offices – which have been targeted by terrorists before.
Four men arrested in 2006 as part of the so-called Toronto 18 investigation have been found guilty of a bomb plot, which included a plan to explode a U-haul truck packed with ammonium-nitrate fertilizer outside the building. (The scheme was infiltrated by police agents, allowing authorities to sell inert substances to the ringleaders who were seeking bomb materials.)
Lately, al-Qaeda-inspired groups overseas have been calling on Canadian extremists to conduct their own attacks against government targets.
Workers at the building itself, however, said the atmosphere inside was calm, and saw it as a mere hassle.
“Nobody’s really worried. People are just finding it an inconvenience,” said Terri Portelli as she left for lunch.
Police are reviewing video surveillance footage from nearby businesses.
With reports from Adrian Morrow
and The Canadian Press
