Suspect facing multiple charges after 2 suspicious package incidents at Broadview station

Toronto police have charged a suspect with numerous offences in connection with two suspicious packages left at Broadview station this week, including an incident that halted service to the station for the Tuesday morning commute.

Police have confirmed that a 53-year-old suspect is in custody.

Subway trains, buses and streetcars bypassed Broadview station for about four hours Tuesday, one day after a suspicious package investigation closed the station for several hours.

Service resumed shortly before 9 a.m.

Paul Smith/CBC
Paul Smith/CBC

The subway was still running on Line 2, a spokesperson for the TTC said, but trains did not stop at Broadview, and shuttle buses, as they were on Monday, were running between Castle Frank and Pape stations.

Toronto police were called to the station around 6:15 a.m. Tuesday for reports of a "suspicious package," Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook told CBC Toronto in a telephone interview.

TTC special constables spotted the item and called police, she said. The Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) team X-rayed the packaged and determined it was not a threat to public safety.

The package had been left on a pillar.

The disruption at Broadview followed a nearly five-hour closure of the station on Monday after police were called for a suspicious package that had been left in the bus terminal area.

Officers were called shortly after 6 a.m. Monday for the package, which had been left on a bench. The investigation halted subway, bus and streetcar service to the station for hours, including the morning rush.

The same specialized police unit analyzed the package and deemed that it wasn't a threat to public safety.

Early Tuesday, Toronto police arrested a 53-year-old Toronto man of no fixed address and charged him with:

  • 2 counts of mischief interfere with property over.

  • 2 counts of public mischief.

  • 2 counts of fail to comply undertaking given to a justice.

  • Fail to attend court.

  • Utter threats.

He is scheduled to appear in court at College Park at 2 p.m. Tuesday.