Excitement In The Big City Of Victoria

[MalahatTwo7]

This something that Victorians almost never see, except on TV.

Bomb scare brings downtown to standstill. Streets blocked off, crowds form after man on roof threatens destruction

Louise Dickson and Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist Published: Monday, September 29, 2008

A man claiming to have a bomb brought downtown Victoria to a grinding halt yesterday afternoon after he climbed onto a Fort Street rooftop and started shouting at pedestrians through a bullhorn.

Streets were blocked off and the downtown core was behind police tape for more than four hours after the man, wearing a hard hat and a reflective vest, appeared on the flat roof of the Custom House Building at 517 Fort St.

The 36-year-old man is a disgruntled former employee of Custom House Ltd., confirmed Peter Gustavson, the company's chairman and CEO. The man worked at the global currency exchange until 2-1/2 years ago.

Sharpshooters from the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, hiding on nearby rooftops, trained their rifles on the man.

"If he had an incendiary device and decided to kill or injure someone, we'd have to take him out," said Victoria police Const. Brent Burger.

The crowds that began to form were held back behind yellow police lines. "The more audience he had, the more it fuelled him," Burger said.

After talking with negotiators from Saanich and Victoria police departments, the man eventually threw his arms in the air, walked to the back of the building and climbed down the stairs.

He left piles of supplies on the roof, including a cooler of beer, a lawn chair, a sleeping bag and a tarp with a website address written on it. The website linked to pages alleging financial wrongdoing on a global scale. Earlier, he had thrown the tarp with the message over the side of the building. {Malnote: Must be Canadian eh? He brought his own beer}

The man surrendered to police shortly after 3.30 p.m. and was taken into custody. He is expected to appear in Victoria provincial court this morning on mischief charges. Further charges could be laid if he is found to have explosives. The bomb disposal unit from Vancouver was still searching the Custom House building at 9 p.m.

Hundreds of cars remained stuck behind police lines as a final search was made for anything resembling a bomb. The Fort Street area remained closed into the evening.

The incident began at 12:14 p.m. when police received 9-1-1 calls from people who watched a man toss an old computer monitor and a box of cheques off the north side of the building.

"He kind of looked like a worker. He was screaming at people, nonsensical stuff. 'There's a bomb, clear the area,' " Burger said.

"It's sad," said Gustavson, standing behind yellow police tape on Langley Street with his son David.

Business in the company's Asia-Pacific region was not disrupted during the incident because it was able to operate from one of its other locations.

As crowds watched, the man drank beer from his cooler, smoked, paced up and down the roofline, sat in a lawn chair reading a book on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and, occasionally, went to the back of the building to urinate. At one point, he stood on the edge of the roof and tied his shoes.

He then complained to negotiators they were rushing him and said, "I need time to reflect. You're talking too much. You're making my head spin." {of course the beer had nothing to do with that, right? LOL}

Custom House employee Sava Ruljic said the man had recently split with his fiancée. Ruljic was trying to get into work early but was warned of the bomb threat by a colleague who was already in the building.

"I don't know the story behind him being let go from Custom House. He used to manage one of the departments," Ruljic said.

While businesses in the 500-block of Fort Street were closed down, some found the standoff was good for business.

"People can smell the cooking, and over they come," said Fred Picard, a street vendor selling gourmet hot dogs and smokies on Government Street.

It was a frustrating afternoon for hundreds of people whose vehicles were stuck behind police tape in the parking lot off Wharf Street.

Ryan Weldon and his daughter paced the parking lot off Wharf Street. "The police asked us to let them in the building for rooftop access because we are the property managers, and now they won't let us go," Weldon said.

The website referred to by the man on the roof contains an explicit YouTube video about financial crimes.

With an image of a mushroom cloud it says, "Good night to Custom House" and "You tried to intimidate me for obeying the law."

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com

ldickson@tc.canwest.com

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

[MalahatTwo7]

Update:

Bomb scare update: No explosives found

Times Colonist Published: Tuesday, September 30, 2008

An intensive search of the Custom House Building and the 500-block of Fort Street found no trace of a bomb Sunday evening, despite threats made claiming there were explosives.

The search by the RCMP explosives disposal unit from Vancouver followed a tense stand-off between police and a man on the roof of the building, who initially claimed to have a bomb.

Much of downtown Victoria was brought to a halt as police negotiators spent hours talking the man down. A two block radius in the immediate area remained cordoned off by police tape from shortly after noon until about 11 p.m.

During the stand-off, the former employee of Custom House changed his story and said he did not have a bomb.

However, police were wary of cylinders he was wearing around his waist which resembled explosives.

The initial bomb claim had to be taken seriously, said Victoria police Const. Brent Burger.

Victoria police Sgt. Grant Hamilton said the man is known to police "because of a previous history with weapons and explosives."

About midday, the man climbed up the fire escape and then hurled an old computer monitor and a box of cheques off the roof, unfurled a banner and yelled at the gathering crowds to check his website which alleges Custom House is involved in global financial crimes.

The violent content of a YouTube video, linked to the website, further alarmed police, Burger said.

"The video looked very explosive," he said.

The last part of the video has a mushroom cloud with the words "Good night to Custom House."

When there are allegations of a bomb, police have to clear the entire area which might be affected by a blast, Burger said.

"We have to make sure the public is protected and we also had to ensure the public was not taunting the individual in any way." The man's mental state was uncertain, making the situation more volatile, Burger said.

The day after the incident, Peter Gustavson, founder and CEO of Custom House, said all employees returned to work today.

"Everybody is very proud of our staff and how they handled the situation. We're thankful to the police for their professionalism, for how they got the individual to surrender without any harm to himself or the public," Gustavson said.

Gustavson would not confirm the suspect's name.

Police and Crown lawyers could not provide details of the suspect's status or court schedule yesterday.

- With files from Joanne Hatherley

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com

[MalahatTwo7]

Ok, this event just got goofy.

Man from Custom House denies bomb claim. Former employee wanted to air his concerns; company says investigation proved his claims without merit

Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist Published: Wednesday, October 01, 2008

The man who climbed onto the roof of the Custom House Building on Sunday, provoking a full-scale police response and closure of the downtown core, says he never claimed to have a bomb and his first priority was to make sure no one got hurt.

John Cavanagh, 35, of Courtenay, said in an interview that his sole objective was to be charged with an offence, allowing him to appear in court where he can publicly detail allegations against Custom House.

"I never used the word bomb in any way or form. I told them to evacuate the building because things were falling off the roof," he said.

A piece of metal pipe came loose, and he started to panic about pedestrians getting hurt if it fell, so he dropped a television over the side to stop people from using the sidewalk, he said.

Cavanagh said he was not expecting anyone to be in the building because, before he left Custom House two years ago, staff did not come in early on Sundays.

Cavanagh carried the television and other equipment onto the roof with him when he climbed the fire escape.

"I planned on being up there four or five days. I had a tent and provisions," he said.

But he had little time to prepare before police arrived, and he was not able to destroy the fire escape stairs as he had planned.

"I changed my mind because I saw sharpshooters everywhere, and when you are in the crosshairs, accidents can happen," he said. {YA! Do ya think?!}

After Cavanagh surrendered, he was taken into custody, then released on a promise to appear in court Nov. 10.

Charges being recommended to Crown counsel are break and enter, mischief and criminal harassment, Victoria police Sgt. Grant Hamilton said.

A previous charge involving explosives was found to be a minor incident with a blasting cap in 1992, and that played into the decision to release him, Hamilton said.

But while he was on the roof, whether or not Cavanagh mentioned a bomb, there was enough concern about the unusual behaviour that police needed to plan for what could happen, Hamilton said.

"When people throw things off buildings, it's an obvious cause for alarm," he said.

Cavanagh scoffs at the idea he was going to hurt someone.

"They said the executives were fearful for their safety, but I want them in court. I don't want to kill them," he said.

In the same vein, a video linked to Cavanagh's website that depicted an exploding atomic bomb was artistic, not literal, he said.

"Where would I get an atomic bomb?"

In an e-mail to Cavanagh, Netfirms, which hosted his website, says his account was suspended because of letters and phone calls "regarding defamation and bomb threats."

The firm representing Custom House "has indicated that they will be commencing legal action if the site is not removed," it says.

Cavanagh said it is another effort to silence him.

Approaches to financial regulators, the Custom House board of directors, the attorney general and other agencies were ignored, leaving roof occupation as his only option, he said.

Shortly before leaving Custom House, he went to Europe, spending about $25,000 on the company credit card in lieu of a bonus he felt he was owed. The company did not charge him, effectively denying him time in the public eye, he said.

Peter Gustafson, Custom House CEO, said in business it can sometimes be better to cut your losses.

"John didn't have any money at the time, so to pursue him would just run up more legal bills," he said.

Cavanagh said he was earning more than $100,000 a year at Custom House and has now been effectively blackballed.

But Gustafson said it was a mutual decision to part company, and "he was not a senior executive or even a senior manager." {and he still make 100K a year???}

His allegations of financial misdeeds were so troubling the board of directors hired a New York law firm to look into Cavanagh's concerns, Gustafson said.

"All the allegations were found to be false or have no merit. They were out and out not truths," he said.

The law firm could not be contacted yesterday.

Custom House president Peter Ciceri said there is no substance whatsoever to the allegations.

"Following the law and being absolutely squeaky clean is of paramount importance to us. There are no grey areas because we are dealing with the international transfer of money," he said.

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Maybe it's just a timing fluke, but the past two mornings I saw security guards outside the building when I went by on the bus on my way to work. Could have just been a shift change, but I've never noticed them before (bright yellow jackets, hard to miss!)

At first, nobody was sure what was going on (had the radio on Sunday, so I heard it all as it was happening) and thought it might just be training, as there had also been a large police/SWAT team presence earlier that morning out on the Pat Bay Hwy. Never did hear what that was all about.

People were calling in to the radio station freakin' out because they were eating lunch at the Bay Centre and could see snipers on the roof right across from them.