3 suspicious devices found at Etobicoke store
Posted October 29, 2011 2:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Three suspicious devices have been found at a costume supplies store in south Etobicoke, Toronto police tell CityNews.
Police say the latest device was found by an employee at about 2 p.m. Saturday at the Amazing Party & Costume store at 923 Oxford St., while another two packages were found early Saturday morning and noon Friday.
Police could not confirm whether the packages were placed simultaneously or if the other two were placed at a later time.
The business says the closure of the store on the eve of Halloween has resulted in lost profit of nearly $500,000.
Police have taped off the immediate area and have turned away last-minute Halloween shoppers. The store was cleared, while members of the Emergency Task Force (ETF) and a bomb disposal unit handled the latest device, Staff Sgt. Frank Barredo said.
The first suspicious device was a bottle with some wires and an egg timer, which was made safe by the ETF and the bomb disposal unit on Friday, he said.
Chris Dunn, an employee at the store, said staff were told to come to work at noon Saturday, only to be turned back and told that the store was closed for the rest of the day.
“If it’s a prank, it’s a pretty stupid one,” Dunn told CityNews. “I mean, not only to hurt people or even pretend to.”
“The fact that there was something in the store that could have went off, people could have been injured, harmed, killed. It’s pretty scary,” said another employee Nick Belfiglio.
The store remained closed on Sunday as police dogs combed the premises.
The third suspicious device was also dismantled.
“We’ve ruled the device safe,” Insp. Gerry Cashman told CityNews. “We did take the device apart. We are now collecting the evidence from that for a thorough investigation.”
“We want to make sure that there are no other devices before we allow the store to be opened to the public.”
