The man suspected of jumping naked into a shark tank at Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto has been arrested in Thunder Bay, Ont., provincial police said Tuesday.
David Weaver, 37, of Nelson, B.C.is also wanted in connection with an alleged assault that occurred outside the Medieval Times dinner theatre in Toronto, just hours before the alleged aquarium incident.
Toronto police have indicated Weaver is expected to be transferred to Toronto from Thunder Bay to face several criminal charges. None of the allegations against him have been tested in court.
The incident at Ripley’s Aquarium occurred after 10 p.m. on Friday night, when police say the suspect entered the aquarium, stripped naked and jumped into the shark tank.
Video of a man swimming among the sharks has been circulating on social media.
Weaver’s former colleague, who did not want his name made public, told CTV Vancouver the skinny-dipping video didn’t surprise him.
“It just seems like something in the realm of his behaviour,” the colleague said.
The two worked together at a fishing lodge in Haida Gwaii, B.C., a series of islands off the coast of northern British Columbia.
"There are little sharks off the dock where he'd go swimming too, so he's swam with sharks before,” the colleague said. “I'm glad he didn't get any appendages bitten off. Good for him."
About two hours before he arrived at Ripley’s Aquarium, the suspect was asked to leave Medieval Times for allegedly being unruly, police said. He was escorted out by security and then allegedly assaulted someone outside.
“It kind of surprised me more that he's wanted for punching someone than the shark thing,” the colleague said. "In all the time I've known him he's always been a guy who doesn't seem like the type to punch someone in the face unless provoked. It just didn't seem like in his character.”
Police in British Columbia say Weaver is known to officers with reports dating back to 2001 in Revelstoke, B.C., Vernon, B.C. and Ontario.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Angela Jung
