The lone suspect killed by police in an anti-terrorism operation on Wednesday had called for a cab to take him to a downtown shopping mall in London, Ont., according to a local taxi company.
But it’s unclear if London’s Citi Plaza, located near a train station and bus terminal, was a target in the suspected suicide bomb plot.
The RCMP has not identified a particular city or location for the alleged plot, but an internal government memo obtained by CTV News on Wednesday revealed that officials were concerned that a public area in a major Canadian city may have been targeted during rush hour.
Toronto transit authorities, including the TTC and Metrolinx, and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority have all said they were notified of the threat on Wednesday morning.
But new information from a Strathroy, Ont. taxi company reveals more details of Aaron Driver’s plan that day.
According to the son of the owner of Leo’s Taxi, Driver was a regular customer who called for a cab sometime between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Driver said his destination was the Citi Plaza mall in London, Ont., about 40 minutes from the home.
Neither Driver nor the cab company knew that a coordinated security team – including a bomb squad, SWAT team and Canada’s military special operations forces – was already waiting outside the Strathroy home. The RCMP has said they didn’t know the taxi was on its way, either.
The taxi company said that Driver entered the cab upon its arrival, and as the taxi began to pull out of the driveway, the driver heard the sound of gunfire and someone yelling to get out of the car and lay on the ground.
An explosive device was then detonated. The force of the powerful blast ripped apart the taxi’s back seat, the company said.
Police say Driver was killed in the clash, and the cab driver sustained some injuries but is alive, according to the taxi company.
“He’s scared – shocked – at what happened,” said Brandon Carreiro, the son of the owner of Leo’s taxi, in an interview with CTV Kitchener.
Police have provided few details to the company, Carreiro said.
“They didn’t say much. (They) said we can’t tell you anything other than your car is here and this happened to your driver. So everything was kept hushed,” he said.
The company has not identified the driver involved.
The exact cause of Driver’s death has not been determined pending an autopsy, RCMP commanding officer Jennifer Strachan told reporters on Thursday.
With a report from CTV Kitchener's Rosie Del Campo
