Police hunted for two people Friday after an explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding 15 people.
In this image made from CCTV footage released by Peel Regional Police, two suspects enter a glass doorway of the Bombay Bhel Indian restaurant, late Thursday, May 24, 2018, in Mississauga, suburb of Toronto, Canada. Police are searching for the two suspects in connection with the explosion caused by "improvised explosive device" ripped through the restaurant, wounding 15 people, Canadian police said. (Peel Regional Police via AP)
Authorities said two people with their faces covered to conceal their identities entered the Bombay Bhel restaurant late Thursday, dropped the bomb and fled. Two birthday parties were taking place at the restaurant and about 40 people were inside, including children, though none of the youngsters were injured.
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Police hunted for two people Friday after an explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding 15 people.
Authorities said two people with their faces covered to conceal their identities entered the Bombay Bhel restaurant late Thursday, dropped the bomb and fled. Two birthday parties were taking place at the restaurant and about 40 people were inside, including children, though none of the youngsters were injured.
The explosion happened just after 10:30 p.m. and the plaza where the restaurant is located was still sealed off Friday. Television footage showed an injured women limping away from the restaurant.
Rafael Conceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was near the restaurant when the explosion occurred.
Bertram said police sealed off a couple of areas east of the restaurant where footprints, a glove and other evidence were located. Police believe the suspects fled in a car.
"There is no indication that this is a terrorism act. There is no indication that this is a hate crime at this time," Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans said. "Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act."
Police said Friday that all the injured had been released from the hospital. Officials initially said three Indian-Canadians suffered critical injuries and were being treated, while the remaining 12 victims suffered what Evans described as superficial injuries. The ages of the injured range from 23 to 69.
Police stand outside the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga, Canada Friday May 25, 2018. Canadian police say an explosion set off deliberately in a restaurant has wounded a number of people. (Doug Ives/The Canadian Press via AP)
The explosion happened just after 10:30 p.m. and the plaza where the restaurant is located was still sealed off Friday. Television footage showed an injured women limping away from the restaurant.
Peel Regional Police Sgt. Matt Bertram said an object resembling a pail or paint can was carried into the restaurant by one of the bombers.
"Nothing was said by these individuals," he said. "It appears they just went in, dropped off this device and took off right away."
Bertram said authorities couldn't say what the motive was or what explosives were used.
Police asked for the public's help and released a photo of the two people, who wore dark hoodies pulled over their heads and had their faces covered.
One suspect was described as someone in his mid-20s with a stocky build, wearing dark blue jeans and a baseball cap with a light gray bill. The second was described as a little shorter with a thin build, wearing faded blue jeans, a gray T-shirt and dark-colored skate shoes.
A police forensic identification unit work around the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)
Rafael Conceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was near the restaurant when the explosion occurred.
"Glass was broken in the street ... Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor. Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant," he said.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said she was thankful there were no fatalities.
"I would call it a very heinous, reprehensible act committed by cowards who came into a restaurant where people are vulnerable, celebrating with their families and where children are present," she said. "This is certainly not anything you would expect to happen in Mississauga."
The explosion came a month after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 14. Authorities have not disclosed a motive. But they have said the arrested driver, Alek Minassian, posted a message on social media referencing a misogynistic online community before the attack.
"To have two of these things happen in a short period of time is worrisome," said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, adding that such events are shocking because they are rare in Canada.
A police officer stands watch at the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bertram said police sealed off a couple of areas east of the restaurant where footprints, a glove and other evidence were located. Police believe the suspects fled in a car.
Sanjiv Jagota, who owns a nearby store, was driving by Thursday night when he saw emergency vehicles and stopped. Standing outside the police tape, Jagota waited with the son of the Bombay Bhel's owner to see how everyone was.
He said he is good friends with the family, who started the restaurant in the 1990s. "This place is like their baby."
Police forensic officers work around the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)
NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A long-running sandstorm at the Jersey Shore could soon come to an end as New Jersey will carry out an emergency beach replenishment project at one of the state's most badly eroded beaches.
North Wildwood and the state have been fighting in court for years over measures the town has taken on its own to try to hold off the encroaching seas while waiting — in vain — for the same sort of replenishment projects that virtually the entire rest of the Jersey Shore has received.
It could still be another two years before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection begin pumping sand onto North Wildwood's critically eroded shores. In January, parts of the dunes reached only to the ankles of Mayor Patrick Rosenello.
But the mayor released a joint statement from the city and Gov. Phil Murphy late Thursday night saying both sides have agreed to an emergency project to pump sand ashore in the interim, to give North Wildwood protection from storm surges and flooding.
“The erosion in North Wildwood is shocking,” Murphy said Friday. “We could not let that stand. This is something that has been out there as an unresolved matter far too long.”
Rosenello — a Republican who put up signs last summer at the entrance to North Wildwood beaches with Murphy's photo on them, telling residents the Democratic governor was the one to blame for there being so little sand on the beach — on Friday credited Murphy's leadership in resolving the impasse. He also cited advocacy from elected officials from both parties, including former Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. Michael Testa in helping to broker a deal.
“This is a great thing for North Wildwood and a good thing for the entire Jersey Shore,” Rosenello said.
The work will be carried out by the state Department of Transportation, but cost estimates were not available Friday. Neither the governor nor the mayor could say for sure whether North Wildwood will be required to contribute to the cost of the work, although Rosenello said the town has offered to make an unspecified contribution.
The agreement could end more than a decade of legal and political wrangling over erosion in North Wildwood, a popular vacation spot for Philadelphians.
New Jersey has fined the town $12 million for unauthorized beach repairs that it says could worsen erosion, while the city is suing to recoup the $30 million it has spent trucking sand to the site for over a decade in the absence of a replenishment program.
Rosenello said he hopes the agreement could lead to both sides dismissing their voluminous legal actions against each other. But he added that more work needs to be done before that can happen. Murphy would not comment on the possibility of ending the litigation.
North Wildwood has asked the state for emergency permission to build a steel bulkhead along the most heavily eroded section of its beachfront — something previously done in two other spots.
But the state Department of Environmental Protection has tended to oppose bulkheads as a long-term solution, noting that the hard structures often encourage sand scouring against them that can accelerate and worsen erosion.
The agency prefers the sort of beach replenishment projects carried out for decades by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where massive amounts of sand are pumped from offshore onto eroded beaches, widening them and creating sand dunes to protect the property behind them.
Virtually the entire 127-mile (204-kilometer) New Jersey coastline has received such projects. But in North Wildwood, legal approvals and property easements from private landowners have thus far prevented one from happening.
That is the type of project that will get underway in the next few weeks, albeit a temporary one. It could be completed by July 4, Rosenello said.
“Hopefully by the July 4 holiday, North Wildwood will have big, healthy beaches, and lots of happy beachgoers,” he said.
Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
FILE - Mayor Patrick Rosenello stands next to a destroyed section of sand dune in North Wildwood N.J. Jan. 22, 2024. On April 25, 2024, North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey announced an agreement for an emergency beach replenishment project there to protect the city until a full-blown beach fill can be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that may still be two years away. Winter storms punched a hole through what is left of the city's eroded dune system, leaving it more vulnerable than ever to destructive flooding. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy speaks at a press conference in Berkeley, N.J. on April 26, 2024. A day earlier, his administration and the city of North Wildwood announced agreement on an emergency project to add sand to North Wildwod's critically eroded beaches, which have been the subject of legal and political battles for over a decade. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
FILE - This Jan. 22, 2024, photo shows a severely eroded section of sand dune in North Wildwood N.J. On April 25, 2024, North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey announced an agreement for an emergency beach replenishment project there to protect the city until a full-blown beach fill can be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that may still be two years away. Winter storms punched a hole through what is left of the city's eroded dune system, leaving it more vulnerable than ever to destructive flooding. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
FILE - Mayor Patrick Rosenello points to a destroyed section of sand dune in North Wildwood N.J., Jan. 22, 2024. On April 25, 2024, North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey announced an agreement for an emergency beach replenishment project there to protect the city until a full-blown beach fill can be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that may still be two years away. Winter storms punched a hole through what is left of the city's eroded dune system, leaving it more vulnerable than ever to destructive flooding. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
FILE - This Jan. 22, 2024 photo shows a severely eroded section of sand dune in North Wildwood N.J. On April 25, 2024, North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey announced an agreement for an emergency beach replenishment project there to protect the city until a full-blown beach fill can be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that may still be two years away. Winter storms punched a hole through what is left of the city's eroded dune system, leaving it more vulnerable than ever to destructive flooding. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy speaks at a press conference in Berkeley, N.J. on April 26, 2024. A day earlier, his administration and the city of North Wildwood announced agreement on an emergency project to add sand to North Wildwod's critically eroded beaches, which have been the subject of legal and political battles for over a decade. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
FILE - This Jan. 22, 2024, photo shows a severely eroded section of sand dune in North Wildwood N.J. On April 25, 2024, North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey announced an agreement for an emergency beach replenishment project there to protect the city until a full-blown beach fill can be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that may still be two years away. Winter storms punched a hole through what is left of the city's eroded dune system, leaving it more vulnerable than ever to destructive flooding. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
FILE- Mayor Patrick Rosenello stands next to a destroyed section of sand dune in North Wildwood N.J., Jan. 22, 2024.. on April 25, 2024, North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey announced an agreement for an emergency beach replenishment project there to protect the city until a full-blown beach fill can be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that may still be two years away. Winter storms punched a hole through what is left of the city's eroded dune system, leaving it more vulnerable than ever to destructive flooding. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
