Christopher Phillips back in NS: RCMP

RCMP say Christopher Burton Phillips is in police custody back in Nova Scotia.

Spokesperson Cpl. Greg Church tells News 95.7 Phillips landed at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Halifax International Airport. He was flown in the RCMP plane from Ottawa, where he was arrested Wednesday morning.

The 42-year-old faces one charge of uttering threats and another of possessing a dangerous weapon, but Church couldn’t say when he would appear in court.

The evacuation of several homes in the Dyke Road area of Grand Desert remains in effect, as police investigate the discovery of chemicals inside a small cottage there.

Earlier, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Greg Church couldn’t say how long the evacuation order would stand, just that police would provide an update to the public at some point on just how long it would continue.

Church said RCMP are trying to keep everyone safe.

“If in fact the chemicals are very, very toxic, we’ve taken measures to ensure the safety of the public, and responders working on the scene,” he said.

He said there is a large quantity of chemicals in the small building, and police need help figuring out what they are, and how to get them out.

“We need to engage a specialist, a chemist, to assist us in furthering the investigation with respect to the type of chemicals it is,” Church said.

He said he would not speculate as to the type of chemicals, the exact quantity, or their possible purpose.

Church confirmed the investigation in Ottawa, where a man is being held on a Canada-wide warrant, is related to this one, and said officers from Nova Scotia will be going to the nation’s capital to assist in the investigation.

He wouldn’t comment on any possible motive.

At that hotel in Ottawa, no chemicals were found in the hotel room or the suspect’s vehicle.

On Tuesday, homes in Cole Harbour and Grand Desert were evacuated because of a potential threat.

Mounties said they found a package in the garage of the Lakeridge Crescent home containing hazardous chemicals.

The house being cleared of hazardous chemicals on Dyke Rd. is owned by Marian Sue Phillips of Oklahoma.

Neighbour, Jo-Ann Cleveland, said she’s never the seen the owners.

“Whoever bought it cleaned it out,” she said. “We saw cupboards and stuff, we just figured somebody was fixing it up for a cottage. We never even seen them do that.”

Cleveland and her husband have been taking walks on the road for decades. She said nothing like this has ever happened there.

“In 30 years, we’ve never had anything like this happen here. You hear that a lot when something happens in a community, but you just don’t think it’s going to happen in your community.”

Yesterday morning, Ottawa Police tweeted they had arrested a man without incident in relation to the evacuation of a hotel in that city’s east end.

Chemical and HAZMAT teams were called to the Chimo Hotel on Joseph Cyr Street across from the St. Laurent Shopping Centre around 10:15 p.m. EST Tuesday night.