Investigators have found the body of a Surrey electrician in the rubble of a Kamloops home that exploded after he took his ex-girlfriend hostage for seven hours Thursday night.
Following the tense standoff, the 48-year-old man, who burst into the woman’s home with explosives strapped to his chest, released the 44-year-old woman around midnight. Shortly after, three explosions rocked the house and it was reduced to ashes.
Police worked Friday and early Saturday to secure the area to make sure it was safe for investigators to search for the man’s remains.
Regional Coroner Mark Coleman confirmed the body was removed from the crime scene on Saturday afternoon. The name of the man has not yet been released.
The woman, her four children and her current boyfriend survived the ordeal, but lost everything when their house burned down.
Meanwhile Saturday, friends were collecting donations for the family. A friend of the family, Virginia Rogers has set up a donation box at a storage facility at 600 Okanagan Way in Kamloops. Donations are being accepted from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today.
Rogers said the family doesn’t have much left and anything would help including toiletries, clothes and toys for the children. She declined to identify the family members.
The bizarre incident began at 5: 20 p.m. Thursday when the armed man entered the home, fired a shot and told everyone but the woman to leave.
According to police, the woman’s current boyfriend escaped with three of her children. A fourth child climbed through a window to safety. The woman has two boys, aged 11 and nine, and two girls, aged 13 and eight.
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During negotiations, police learned the man was distraught about breaking up with the woman two years ago.
Learned said she had twice phoned police after gifts were left at her rented home in Kamloops’ Dufferin neighbourhood.
There was nothing to indicate who sent the gifts, but the woman believed they came from the former boyfriend, said Learned.
Yet a man claiming to be the woman’s current boyfriend called a local Kamloops TV station and said the suspect wasn’t a former boyfriend but rather someone she knew through work.
The man, who identified himself only as David to protect the family’s identity, told CFJC TV Kamloops there were six kids in the home at the time, four belonging to the woman and his two kids. He said they were approached by the suspect outside of the house.
“At that time, I knew just by glancing at him that we were in trouble,” said David, in a phone conversation with CFJC. He had a long box in his hand. His hand was inside the box and his other hand was preoccupied with something underneath his coat.”
David told CFJC he knew he would be perceived as a threat so he ran next door with his three-year-old daughter. He said his girlfriend’s 13-year-old daughter should be credited for getting the other kids out of the house.
He added that the family would make a joint statement in the coming days.
The mother and her four children had moved in the past couple of months to Kamloops from Barnhartvale, a sprawling rural area of about 1,500 people east of the city, according Rogers.
Having only recently met the woman through a mutual friend, Rogers said she did not know the history of the woman’s relationship with her estranged boyfriend. She would not reveal the woman’s name.
Residents of the neighbourhood were reeling after the incident.
“Shocking, shocking, shocking. That’s what it is,” said Vern Reynolds. Simon Harry said the children took refuge in his home on the same cul-de-sac.
“I couldn’t believe something like that was actually happening,” Harry said.
“My daughter was just in the house a half-hour before it went down. I’m still trying to process everything,” he said.
Several neighbours said they did not know the woman well but she appeared to keep to herself and kept a watchful eye on her children.
Kim Bartlett said the children played in the cul-de-sac, but that the mom was quiet.
“She didn’t say very much,” said Kim Bartlett, adding she had not known there were four children at the home.
The RCMP said the Surrey man had explosives strapped to his body, which was confirmed by witnesses.
The man also told police he had an explosive device wired to the gas tank of his vehicle and a second bomb in the car. He also said he could detonate the bomb from a remote device.
Police evacuated the neighbourhood after confirming explosives were indeed in the suspect’s car, and firefighters stayed out of the area until the risk of further blasts had passed and no one emerged from the house.
Once the scene was secure, bomb squad officers used a robot to safely disarm the explosive devices in the vehicle. Investigators said if they had detonated there would have been fatalities in the surrounding area.
No names have been released.
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