Nanaimo R-C-M-P say they have taken over the case involving an explosion that tore apart a home near the downtown core on Sunday night.
Constable Gary O'Brien says police will be checking to see if foul play was involved.
He says crews have managed to remove debris from the site of the flattened home and check the basement and other areas.
The house was vacant when it blew up just before 9 p-m but the force of blast damaged other homes and flying glass injured several people.
To further the investigation, the victim has been identified as 30-year-old Cody Corbett. Corbett is known to police. At this time, homicide investigators believe the stabbing was targeted and not random. There is also no known connection with the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
Police renewed warnings to downtown Ottawa protesters to get out of the parliamentary precinct Wednesday, this time with the federal Emergencies Act in their arsenal. Officers walked along Wellington Street handing out notices to protesters encamped there, telling them they "must leave the area now."
Canada and the United States ratified the Pacific Salmon Treaty in 1985 to manage cross-border harvesting,but it wasn't designed to deal with climate change and stocks that are in crisis, said Greg Knox, executive director of SkeenaWild Conservation Trust based in Terrace, B.C.
Inside the vehicle was a deceased female body that had sustained injuries consistent with homicide. The female victim was dentified as Bhavkiran (Kiran) Dhesi, 19 of Surrey.
Abbotsford Police Investigating a Homicide on Simon Ave. Victim is a 30-year-old male. Investigators are in the early stages. No information to suggest the public is at risk.
There are 787 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 124 are in intensive care. In the past 24 hours, two new deaths (Northern Health) have been reported, for an overall total of 2,766.