A briefcase bomb found in a car being searched by police this week east of Edmonton was, in the opinion of a local security expert and former Mountie, designed to kill as many people as possible.

“The destruction and death would have been really, really devastating,” said Neil LeMay, who was a RCMP major crimes investigator for nearly three decades and now a consultant with Global Enterprise Security Risk Management.

The improvised explosive device (IED) was found inside a car in Sherwood Park in the middle of the night Tuesday.

Mounties were patrolling in Sherwood Park, checking licence plates in a parking lot off Pembina Road and Broadmoor Boulevard around 1:30 a.m., when they ran the plate of a Buick Verano.

It came back as not matching the car and also was not supposed to be attached to a registered motor vehicle.

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Improvised explosive device discovered during Sherwood Park traffic stop

A traffic stop was initiated, during which police spotted bear spray inside the Buick. They added the driver was attempting to conceal something down the side of the driver’s seat, which was later determined to be a knife.

RCMP arrested the driver and began a more thorough search of the car. They say they came across drug paraphernalia and then a briefcase, which had been turned into an improvised explosive device (IED)

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Inside the foam-insulated briefcase were hundreds of screws and the wiring to make it explode.

From the photo released by RCMP, the foam-insulated briefcase appeared to contain hundreds of screws and the wiring to make it explode.

LeMay has seen a number of pipe bombs and homemade explosives in his career. He said the one found this week is unlike any other he’s come across, because it’s not in a steel container.

He explained the bomb being in a briefcase would make its concussion wave less powerful — indicating it wasn’t meant to blow up a car or damage a building.

“This, in fact, was probably designed towards injuring and killing soft targets,” LeMay said. “By that, I mean people.”

Upon detonation, he said this briefcase bomb would eject all the screws out as shrapnel that would fly through the air at high speed.

“Think of every one of those as a bullet capable of killing somebody.”

The former police officer believes the bomb was designed to do maximum damage to multiple people.

Without having seen the bomb himself, LeMay believes it would likely have been used in a public space without security.

“Any setting where there’s a lot of people standing around, the destruction and death would have been really, really devastating.

“This is the kind of stuff you use to kill high numbers of people.”

LeMay suspects the intended target was probably involved in criminality. RCMP have not released any information about where the bomb was headed or any possible intended targets.

Upon realizing what they were dealing with, Mounties said the immediate area, which included a gas station, was evacuated and blocked off while the RCMP explosives disposal unit (EDU) was called in to render the bomb safe.

Police said the IED was energized but the battery was not connected. LeMay said leaving the trigger wire disconnected is the safest way to transport a bomb.

“This person has some experience in making bombs, obviously — he’s reasonably good at it. And if he was transporting it to the final destination where they planned on planting this bomb, he would have just connected it back up at the very last minute before he left,” he said.

Andrew Timothy Walker, 36, of Strathcona County, was charged with:

• Possession of a weapon contrary to an Order (x3)
• Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose (x2)
• Possession of an explosive
• Fail to comply with a drug demand
• Impaired operation of a motor vehicle
• Possession for the purpose of trafficking
• Resisting a peace officer

Walker has a criminal history involving bombs.

Court documents show he’s been charged twice previously with making or possessing an explosive device — in October 2021 and November 2021.

One charge was withdrawn, the other resulted in a 120-day jail sentence.

The 36-year-old was also one of four men charged in connection with the 2021 death of Donald Blizzard.

He ended up pleading guilty to interfering with Blizzard’s remains, which were moved about 90 km northwest of Edmonton to a rural area in Lac. St. Anne County and found several months later.

For that, Walker was sentenced in February 2024 to 499 days in jail. Other charges of manslaughter, unlawful confinement and obstruction of justice were withdrawn.

Neither the RCMP nor Strathcona County made anyone available for an interview on Thursday.

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