Police direct people at the intersection of Barrington Street and Duke Street in downtown Halifax on Monday.Devin Stevens/The Canadian Press
Police have arrested a man after he allegedly made a bomb threat directed at the U.S. consulate in downtown Halifax that forced the evacuation of high-rise office towers and nearby waterfront streets for several hours on Monday.
It’s the third incident involving a U.S. consulate in Canada recently after shots were fired at the Toronto building in March and then again in July. No one was injured in any of the consulate incidents.
The U.S. Consulate General in Halifax informed police Sunday evening around 6:15 p.m. that they had received a bomb threat.
Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Sergeant Michelle Dooks said they quickly identified the 54-year-old suspect and began looking for him. But it wasn’t until Monday around 8:30 a.m. that he was arrested. They haven’t released the man’s name or a potential motive.
Police arrested the suspect in the Thomas Raddall Drive area, a diverse suburban community with high density apartments.
Just after 8 a.m., police found the suspect’s car with a propane tank and containers of other flammable materials in it in the parking garage attached to the office tower where the consulate is located. A suspicious bag was also located nearby, according to Halifax police.
The multistorey parking garage holds about 1,000 vehicles. Sgt. Dooks said police are still investigating when the vehicle was parked there.
The surrounding area was blocked off and the evacuation order was put in place in the morning. Hundreds of people in the two office towers and surrounding streets were evacuated for several hours.
Sgt. Dooks said she can’t comment on whether the incident could be linked to the two recent shootings at the U.S. consulate in Toronto because of the continuing investigation. “At this time,” the bomb threat is not considered a national-security incident, she told reporters Monday afternoon at Halifax Regional Police headquarters.
“But what I can say is he is here. He’s being interviewed and everyone has been notified that we believe needs to be notified,” she added.
“All avenues will be checked.”
Last week, two teens were arrested and charged in relation to the early-morning shooting of the U.S. consulate building in Toronto in late July. A teen has also been charged for an alleged shooting at the same diplomatic office in March. Police have said both cases are linked to gun-for-hire networks.
U.S. prosecutors and the FBI have previously linked the March consulate shooting to an alleged Iraqi terrorist with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was arrested in Turkey in May and remains in U.S. custody. Toronto police last week did not connect the man being held by the U.S. with the July shooting.
The teens allegedly involved in the July shoot-up of the U.S. consulate in Toronto have been charged with a specific provision of the Criminal Code that prohibits attacks on “premises of internationally protected persons,” a United Nations designation for foreign dignitaries.
No charges have been laid in relation to the Halifax bomb threat, but Sgt. Dooks said the RCMP and Halifax Regional Police Integrated Major Crime Unit are looking into it. The joint investigative team usually handles high-profile and serious cases.
When the alleged suspect’s car was located, the surrounding area was evacuated and police issued an emergency alert to warn people about a bomb threat in the area of Upper Water Street and connecting streets as well as a suspicious vehicle in the Purdy’s Wharf Parkade. The Halifax Regional Police Explosive Disposal Unit responded, and by 2 p.m. determined there was no threat to public safety. The cordoned-off streets were then reopened.
Police would not say whether the man who was arrested was known to them.
The U.S. Consulate General in Halifax, located in one of the two Purdy’s Wharf office towers on the waterfront, serves the four Atlantic provinces, as well as the two small French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.
Viki Limaye has been the U.S. Consul-General in Halifax since August, 2024.
The U.S. Consulate General does not comment on matters of security, a U.S. embassy spokesperson said.