Ottawa police arrested a man without incident at an east-end hotel Wednesday following an overnight investigation linked to the evacuation of two areas in Halifax where police found dangerous chemicals.
The Nova Scotia RCMP said the 42-year-old man was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant.
The manager of the man's ex-wife said police told her the identity of the suspect.
Nick Furris said Shannon Miller, a former Olympic gymnast for the U.S., was told by police that her ex-husband, Christopher Phillips, was arrested in the incident.
In a statement, Miller said her prayers go out to the safety of people around Phillips and she is thankful that the police were able to arrest him without incident.
Ottawa Const. Chuck Benoit said there's no information suggesting there was a threat to national security or a connection to terrorism.
However, police have confirmed a connection between the incident at the Chimo Hotel in Ottawa and an RCMP investigation in Nova Scotia, where two different locations in the Halifax area were evacuated Tuesday after police found dangerous chemicals.
Benoit said the investigation began at about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday and that a perimeter was established around the eight-storey hotel and the guests evacuated.
"The information that we received that it was a threat, a suspicious male that was at the hotel. We have specialty units, tactical and hazmat that are on scene."
He said hotel guests were evacuated safely and quietly so officers could concentrate on what he called a "complex investigation."
Police had to be careful not to alert the suspect, who was checked in to a room on the sixth floor of the hotel, to the evacuation.
"It went very well. We had a lot of officers that worked with tactical to evacuate with no incident regarding the individual being notified that this was going on," Benoit said.
"So we are very fortunate that that went on so peacefully, and a lot of co-operation from the public that were inside, as well as the employees."
The Red Cross tweeted that it helped relocate the guests:
"Red Cross volunteers providing comfort, emergency lodging and food assistance to those evacuated from incident at Chimo Hotel."
Police tweeted just after 9 a.m. that they were focusing on a vehicle near the hotel.
Benoit could not say how many people were evacuated.
"We used OC Transpo to transport these families to another location inside Ottawa at another hotel," he said.
Police closed all streets surrounding the hotel and were asking the public to avoid the area.
The Chimo Hotel website says it has 256 guest rooms.
The investigation in Halifax began after RCMP were alerted to a suspicious package in the neighbourhood of Cole Harbour, eventually leading to the evacuation of homes on Tuesday morning.
The packaged was determined to contain hazardous materials, but not explosives, the RCMP said on their Twitter account.
Five homes in the Grand Desert community were later evacuated as well as the search expanded and RCMP found hazardous and volatile materials.
