Politicians, neighbours rattled after explosion damages B.C. cabinet minister's office
CBC
The RCMP's serious crime unit is investigating after an explosive device damaged the constituency office of a longtime B.C. cabinet minister early Friday, in the second of two overnight incidents loud enough to wake people living in the area from their sleep.
Mounties in North Vancouver said a door frame at the office of Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s infrastructure minister, was damaged when an explosive device went off around 4:15 a.m. PT.
Nobody was hurt, and officers are working to determine a possible motive.
"I don't know if it's politically motivated. We're not calling it that, but we're investigating all possible avenues at this point," Cpl. Mansoor Sahak with North Vancouver RCMP said at a news conference around midday.
"Those are the questions that are hopefully going to be answered as our investigation unfolds."
Ma's ground-floor office space is on Esplanade Avenue, which is a few blocks away from the busy waterfront Shipyards area in the city's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood. It was cordoned off with police tape as officers investigated, taking photographs and swabbing the scorched frame.
The incident rattled provincial politicians across party lines, some of whom closed their own constituency offices on Friday as a precaution. People living in the area were also concerned, talking with one another in coffee shops and grocery store lineups about what might have happened.
In a statement, Ma said the incident was "very frightening" for the community, "regardless of intent or motivation."
"I'm grateful for the outpouring of support from community members and people across B.C., including MLAs from all sides of the House. My staff, my family, and I are okay. The RCMP have been taking the incident seriously, and I have full confidence in their ability to conduct a thorough investigation," she wrote.
"It is still very early in the investigation, and I want to encourage everyone to avoid engaging in speculation at this time," she added.
CBC News spoke with Ma and her husband in person earlier Friday, who said they were reeling from the incident.
In the news conference, RCMP said officers responded to two calls in the area overnight — one for a "loud bang" in the 100-block West First Avenue at 2:45 a.m. and the second for a "loud explosion" at Ma's office on Esplanade Avenue at 4:15 a.m.
The two locations are about a block apart.
Sahak said officers did not find anything suspicious when they responded to the first call, but found the damaged door frame at Ma's office during the second. He said investigators are working to determine whether the incidents are connected.
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