An arrest has been made by the Whitehorse RCMP in response to the targeted “mail bomb” incident in Port Alice.
Roger Nepper, a long-time Port Alice local in his 60s and retired from the town’s pulp mill Neucel Specialty Cellulose, was rushed to a hospital Sept. 11 in Nanaimo after sustaining serious, but non-life threatening injuries from an exploding mail package. Nepper’s wife, Shirley Bowick, received minor burns from the incident.
“The Whitehorse RCMP have arrested a suspect in relation to the mail bombing that occurred in Port Alice, B.C. on September 11th, 2018,” states a release from Cpl. Tammy Douglas. “The male, a 73 year old resident of Whitehorse, Yukon, was arrested on September 13th, 2018, and remains in custody.”
Douglas noted that out of an abundance of caution, the Whitehorse RCMP asked residents of an apartment building located at 4th Avenue and Lambert Street to temporarily relocate while officers conducted a search related to the active, ongoing investigation.
“Our first priority was to the safety of the residents in the building,” added Douglas. “Residents returned to their homes later in the evening.”
This file remains under investigation.
RELATED: Two Port Alice residents injured from exploding package