Wednesday night I got a text from Rachel back in Vancouver (morning for her) cursing the buses that weren’t running due to the explosion. I texted her back asking, “What explosion?” and didn’t get a reply. So I went to News1130.com (my favourite News Radio station in Vancouver – ‘traffic and weather together every 10 minutes on the ones!’).

Evan’s Starbucks exploded!

My best friend Evan who is a Shift Supervisor at Starbucks… his location exploded! But News1130 didn’t say what time it happened or if anyone was hurt. So I call Evan – he doesn’t pick up – so I call my parents. They pick up and tell me that it happened at 2:30am and no one was hurt. Evan calls back and tells me that he was scheduled to work at 5:00am but got a call at 3:00am that the alarm at Starbucks (formerly location #193) was going off and he needed to go turn it off. When he got there, he couldn’t even get close! There were police and street blockades; residents from 10 blocks away heard the explosion; London Drugs’ windows were blown out across the street…

Story from The Vancouver Sun states (02.13.08) that it was a gas leak in the Taco Del Mar beside the Starbucks and it is believed to be arson. Next story from the Vancouver Sun (02.14.08) the police have an ID of the suspect who is in hospital with burns over 40% of his body and was seen by witnesses running away from Broadway and Heather. There is also an interview with the owners of the Taco Del Mar with concern regarding them being targeted.

[Photos from one of Evan's work buddies on Facebook]