Explosion in downtown Toronto - One dead (explosives strapped to the suspect)

CTV ^ | Self

[Tasha Dasha Doo]

It is on CTV news channel.

Just breaking - explosion in a coffee shop in downtown Toronto, Canada.

Reporter just talked about some sort of explosives strapped to a guy and explosion occured in a busy district of the city.

Will keep you posted!

[Huck]

IMO, both terms are inadequate

Perhaps you are right. Either way, I like the civil end to our discourse. So I'll rise to it and just say be well.

[Huck]

Great post. Thanks.

[Huck]

Thank you. Stay in touch. I can use the positive feedback ;-)

[Huck]

BTW, apparently this place is in close proximity to a very busy subway station, and that may have been the target.

Definitely looks that way.

[Elyse]

I'm pleased to hear it-- my normal aversion to herds of people increased dramatically after 9-11. Especially confined spaces full of people ( subways ) and stadiums.

Just yesterday I was standing in the subway and looked down and the guy in sitting in front of me was of middle-east decent. He was clutching a backpack tightly to his chest and holding something metallic silver(in retrospect, I'm sure it was a cell phone). His eyes were closed tightly and his lips were moving like he was praying.

I was 3 stops away from the station I wanted to get out at, I started working my way to the farthest place away from the guy in the car and next to a door. As soon as those doors opened at the next stop I got out and kept moving as fast as I could, without actually running, until I was all the way out of the subway station.

I felt guilty all the way out for the people that I left behind in the car that I thought were surely doomed to die, but even though they tell you to report anything suspicious, do you report every middle-east looking person with a backpack that appears to be praying on the subway?

I'm sure some people think I was silly for my over-reaction, but I guarantee I'd act the same way again if I'm ever in a similiar situation.

[R. Scott]

I doubt many would believe the Muslims even under that scenario - except our "esteemed" news media.

[R. Scott]

It is possible that he took directions direct from the recipe book without first gaining a basic knowledge of chemistry.

[R. Scott]

I guess I sometimes make the mistake of thinking logically – and assuming everyone else does it to. I would have tested the circuit a few times before heading out. I would have been thoroughly familiar with the whole package. Arming would have been accomplished with one switch.
But then again, I’m not usually considered a nut case either.

[Robert A Cook PE]

North-of-the-south-border alert.

[finnigan2]

The latest media reports (this AM) are claiming that the "explosion" was caused by gasoline, despite the fact that the washroom was almost completely demolished and the door blown off. It's possible that gasoline fumes in a small space could build up to produce an explosion type result but I would have thought that gasoline would cause an intense fire rather than an explosion under the conditions described.
However, as I predicted, the police are saying nothing - they are still trying to identify the victim, etc., etc. Give them a week or two and we may learn more - but only as much as they deem they are required to reveal or the public has a right to know. Too much knowledge about the case might jeopardize the victims right to a fair trial don'tcha know.

[backhoe]

Elyse, you were not over-reacting at all, but reacting prudently to strange stimulus.

I have gathered everything I can find about that Toronto "Suicide" ( wink, wink, nudge, nudge-- don't panic! Nuthin' to see here folks, just move along... ) bomber here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1052520/posts?page=762#762

I rarely mention my extensive background and training in executive protection/counterterrorism for a variety of reasons-- not the least of which is that on the Web, anyone can claim anything.

You'd have to trek down to the Swamps of Georgia, and then I could show you the strange certificates and the wall, the pictures of a much younger & larger JR carrying exotic weaponry in weird locations... but I've "been there, done that, and didn't even get a crummy shirt..." and anyone can claim anything on the web- but...

You did the right thing. Trust your instincts, they tell you things you can't sometimes verbalize, but there're telling you things you need to know.

[Smokin' Joe]

ONe thing for sure--I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it!

[R. Scott]

No kidding!

[evad]

The difference is that suicide doesn't carry the same stigma that homicide does. Which is why the MSM uses the former.

zakly!

Suicide indicates taking one's own life, homicide indicates taking the life of someone else. Murder is a more appropriate description of these terrorist actions but I guess murdercide just isn't catchy enough.

[DBrow]

"The delayed-second-explosion is the trademark of the Islamic terrorist and nobody else"

Just picking nits, but Eric Rudolph did that too in the USA, and admitted he did it at trial.

[Mr. K]

wier... I've been to that Tim Hortons


Inbet her went into the washroom to prepare and "oopsie' set it off killing only himself - NO VIRGINS FOR YOU!

[Hermann the Cherusker]

religion of peace?

No, "Religion of Piece(s)"

[BluH2o]

And the evidence for this pontification is...?

My pontification ... Post #20

This seems to be the work of an individual nut case ... doubt if there's a terrorist connection.

Rampant frenzied speculation isn't my style ... and, as usual, once the dust clears, I'm usually right.
What follows below makes my point.

CBC News

Police have ruled out terrorism as the cause of an explosion at a Tim Hortons doughnut shop in a trendy downtown area of Toronto on Sunday, killing one man.

The victim was likely an arsonist or attempting suicide, Staff Sgt. Don Cole of Toronto police told reporters hours after the explosion.

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

Police said the man apparently carried a can of gasoline into a washroom stall about 1 p.m. local time at the doughtnut shop in the city's Yorkville area, and set off a flash fire that killed him.

[teenyelliott]

My motto is, if anyone doesn't hear my sarcasm without a tag, then they are not worth my time.

Nice to come across a fellow sarcasmist around here. : )

[Huck]

I'm pretty much the same way. Labelling it or explaining it takes all the fun out of it. Here's a case in point:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607816/posts?page=18#18

Nice to meet you too.