One month ago today, Kelowna RCMP confirm a truck exploded in the driveway of a Rutland home as the result of a bomb.
During the regular Monday morning cop briefing, Kelowna RCMP spokesman Kris Clark revealed the Chevy Silverado truck, which caught fire in the 1300-block of Rutland Road North in the very early hours of Aug. 30, didn’t just catch fire, but exploded in the middle of the residential neighbourhood.
The resulting fire destroyed the vehicle and was immediately labelled suspicious by fire crews and RCMP, who have been dealing with a number of bomb cases this year.
“A considerable amount of planning and forethought seems to have been used as the device was placed inside the cab of the truck while it was locked and parked in front of the owner’s residence,” said Clark.
The owner of the truck is a 22-year-old man who does not have a criminal record, but is known to police, and he is not cooperating with the investigation.
On Jan. 11, a car bomb blew up a Ford Explorer reportedly owned by Dave Habib whose brother, Dale, is linked to the Kingpin Crew, a disbanded underling Hells Angels chapter. The incident occurred near the parking lot beside Christopher’s Restaurant in the heart of the downtown core.
The second incident occurred last month as well, when RCMP arrested an individual with bomb-making materials in his West Kelowna home as he was about to move them to Lake Country.
At this point, law enforcement officials have not linked the incidents and say there is no tie between this latest bomb and the multi-hour lock down at Orchard Park Mall last week.
The mall bomb threat turned out to be a hoax; although it lead to some very traumatizing moments for bystanders, timed as it was in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack in a Kenyan mall which killed 67 people.
“The good thing was 98 per cent of the public did not panic and no, there was not a bad pandemonium, but a keen interest to listen, obey and file out quickly,” said Harry Manak, who was evacuated in the mall bomb threat.
The threat came in after a note was found on a scrap of paper left on a car in the parking lot stating there was a bomb inside the mall. No arrests have been made in the case.
Twitter: @jaswrites
