Auto shop owners shocked to have received letter bomb

The owners of a Winnipeg auto shop that received one of three letter bombs earlier this month say they can't believe they received a bombaddressed to the accused bomber's ex-wife.

Guido Amsel, 49, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated assault and several charges relating to the possession of explosives after small voice recorders packed with an explosive compound were sent to the workplace of his ex-wife, Iris Amsel, as well as two law firms.

• Winnipeg mail bomb targets were 3 women
• Guido Amsel went through bitter, lengthy divorce, court records show
• Accused bomber ordered not to contact ex-wife or Maria Mitousis

The packagewasdetonated at Iris Amsel's workplace onWashington Avenueby policeon July 4, several daysafter it arrived at Olli Ehrmantraut's auto repairshop next door.

Ehrmantraut told CBC News that he and his wife, Laura Branconnier, and their staffthought the package wasunusual it hadIris Amsel's name on it but was addressed to their shop, they said.

"We even just made a joke, like a simple joke 'Oh, maybe it's a bomb.' And I just remember looking at it, shaking it and, like, thinking it was a joke," Ehrmantraut said in an interview Monday.

"I was like, 'Ah, it doesn't sound like a bomb.' And then he's bending it, he was like, 'It didn't feel like a bomb. I thought it was a book.'"

Ehrmantraut said the package "just didn't look right," so they left it next door, where Iris Amsel worked.

'Don't open that'

It was after another mailed package exploded in a law office on July 3, seriously injuring family lawyer Maria Mitousis, that they suspected the mysterious package may not be so innocent.

Mitousis had represented Iris Amsel in her divorce proceedings withGuido Amsel.

Ehrmantrautsaid they got a phone call from Iris Amsel saying her lawyer was the victim in the blast. Theytook a photo of the package in her office and sent it to her.

"That's when she said, 'Don't open that.' It was just too weird," Branconnier said.

Police later confirmed that the package contained an explosive. It was detonated and no injuries were reported.

"The police said to us when it went off it would have been enough, for sure, to rip our heads off," Ehrmantraut said.

Another letter bomb was later detonated by police near the law office of Orle Bargen and Davidson on Stradbrook Avenue. The lawyer who represented him in the divorce proceedings used to work there but no longer does.

Ehrmantraut and Branconnier said it may take some time before a task as simple as getting the mail feels normal again.

They said they have questions about what happened. Ehrmantraut said he's known Guido Amsel for 15 years and considered him to be a close friend. Amsel even gave him his start as a mechanic, he added.

Ehrmantraut said he and Amsel spoke just days before the explosion.

"We were laughing, making the same jokes we make every time we see each other," he said, adding that they had hung out with Amsel a couple weeks earlier.

For now, the couple is thanking everyone who helped to make sure nobody else was injured. They're also thinking about Mitousis and her recovery.

"It could have happened to us, too. You know, we were one day away from that being us,"Ehrmantrautsaid."So I put my condolences out for her."