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Hang-Kam Chiu, known as Annie, was killed in a hammer attack as she walked along Sheppard Avenue East near Markham Road at around 7 p.m.

Shortly before 10 p.m. that night, officers at 42 Division “became aware of a suspicious package at the front desk, allegedly left there by Saad Akhtar when he turned himself,” Gray said.

“Some members were evacuated and the CBRNE team was called to investigate. The package was rendered safe and members were allowed to return to normal operations,” she said.

“This incident is part of our ongoing investigation.”

She would not comment on the nature of the package. It is not known if the package was inert all along, or whether a real explosive or dangerous substance inside it was deactivated in some way by the CBRNE team.

The suspicious package incident happened at the same time as Akhtar’s surrender, she said, which is curious timing.

The police station is at 242 Milner Ave., only 750 metres from where Chiu was attacked, which is roughly a 10-minute walk. (Akhtar had left on foot earlier in the day to attend a mosque, as he did every evening, his mother told Global News earlier).

Photo by Chris Doucette/Postmedia

It is not known what happened in the nearly three hours between the attack and Akhtar’s surrender.

The confirmed role of a possible or fake explosive device is consistent with how other recent terrorist attacks have played out in the West.