Lucky to be alive, Shaunovin Houle survived a bomb blast.
He suffered burns to his arm, hand and face after he and three others were rushed to hospital with severe injuries after their truck blew up.
"The whole vehicle on the inside was just in flames instantly," said Houle.
Winnipeg police have revealed an improvised explosive device, also called an IED, was inside a bag in the truck and was accidently detonated.
"It's incredibly alarming that we've got a, call it an IED a bomb that's out," said Const. Rob Carver.
Houle and his friends were leaving the 7-Eleven Saturday night at Logan Avenue and Keewatin Street when they noticed the bag on the hood of another car. One of the other passengers in the front seat of the truck grabbed the bag and opened it and as they drove away… it exploded. The truck crashed into a nearby fire hydrant on Gallagher Avenue. Houle says he jumped out of a back window.
"I just got out my arm was on fire same with my hand here, my hair and pretty much I just ripped off my shirt and put myself out," said Houle.
Police say the people in the truck were not targets. Neither was an unrelated individual who left the bag in the parking lot in the first place. Police say that person may not have known what was in the bag. Police also say the IED was not meant to do random harm but couldn't say if someone else was specifically targeted.
"I think it's reasonable to assume when someone has gone to all the trouble to make an explosive device of this power, that there's some other backstory," said Carver.
Despite no arrests, police believe there is no ongoing threat to the public. Police have interviewed the person who left the bag in the parking lot.
Houle says he believes his friends took the bag out of curiosity. A curiosity he says could get you killed.
"It's a really uneasy feeling especially knowing if we weren’t the ones, it would be somebody else who would have found that bag right?" said Houle.
