WATCH ABOVE: Marianne Dimain reports on trying to speak to the tunnel’s architect and why he says it was his dream.
TORONTO – Toronto’s mystery tunnel mystified many around the world but it was a labour of love for a 22-year-old construction worker.
“It was just something I always wanted to do,” Elton McDonald told the Toronto Sun.
“I knew I could do it. It was kind of a fun project for me and some friends.”
McDonald has revealed himself as the architect behind the 10-metre-long bunker located in a wooded area near the Rexall Centre on the York University campus — the location where tennis will be played for this summer’s Pan Am Games.
READ MORE: ‘Give us a call, k?’: Cop hopes his #Torontotunnel tweet stirs tips
“I just want people to know that I meant no harm at all,” he said. “It was not meant as a bad thing.”
McDonald said he began work on the underground hideaway, on the land adjacent to his family’s home, five years ago with the help of some of his friends.
WATCH: The Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington was able to speak with one of the mystery tunnel diggers and joined Antony Robart on The Morning Show.
Earlier this week, Toronto police released a statement saying they located the two men responsible for building the tunnel and that it was constructed for “personal reasons.”
“I knew I could do it. It was kind of a fun project for me and some friends.”
McDonald told the Sun the site wasn’t built for nefarious reasons and that it was really meant for a place where he can just hang out.
“I was going to expand it to have a couple of rooms,” he said. “I was hoping to put in a TV. I did some barbecuing there.”
Police say the men responsible for the tunnel, which was discovered by a conservation officer on Jan. 14, won’t be facing any criminal charges.
McDonald said he was afraid to come forward at first due to the media coverage.
“The kind of things they were saying it could be had me frightened,” McDonald told the Sun. “They were saying it was a terror tunnel, for crime or connecting to Al-Shabaab and I didn’t know what to do.”
READ MORE: Social media users play true detective in #TorontoTunnel mystery
McDonald said he was contacted by police after equipment found at the tunnel, including a generator, linked back to him.
He said his boss was the one who gave McDonald’s number to police.
“My boss was not mad,” he said. “He had lent me the equipment and knew it was something I always wanted to do.”
McDonald said he intends to build another secret tunnel down the road, this time on his own property.
Comments