Not much new in today's announcement IMHO:
B.C. bank robbery suspects, motivated by 'anti-authority beliefs,' had goal to kill police officers: RCMP
Police say twin brothers used robbery to draw out officers; violence planned since 2019
Police, suspects exchange multiple shots in deadly shooting at B.C. bank
Warning: This story contains details of violence.
THE LATEST:
- Suspects' goal was to shoot and kill as many police officers as possible, RCMP investigation finds.
- Mounties say brothers Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie, both 22, used the bank robbery to draw out police and did not intend to steal money or harm the public.
- Brothers were motivated by "anti-government" and "anti-police" views.
- RCMP investigation ruled out third suspect, despite initial fears another person was involved.
- Brothers had been planning violence since 2019 and spent a "significant" amount of their money acquiring firearms.
B.C. RCMP are releasing new details around its investigation into a bank robbery that left two suspects dead and six police officers injured in Saanich, B.C., last June, including the suspects' motive.
Police said Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie, both 22, had a goal to get into a shootout with police when they went into the Bank of Montreal branch near midday on June 28, heavily armed with semi-automatic rifles and body armour.
Investigators said Friday the men had strong "anti-government" and "anti-police views" and wanted to kill as many officers as possible.
The bank robbery was not the brothers' objective, but a means to draw out police. RCMP found the brothers stayed inside the bank for 11 minutes after getting cash and held 22 workers and civilians hostage to attract officers.
The brothers acted alone and had been planning the event since at least 2019, Mounties added. They were shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with police outside the bank on Shelbourne Street.
Six members of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team were hurt in the gunfight. Five officers, who are from the Saanich Police Department, are still off duty.
"As we all know, there were significant physical injuries that were suffered on that day and there are still officers that have not returned to work because of those injuries," said Saanich Police Chief Const. Dean Duthie, adding some officers are also off duty as they work through psychological trauma.
The suspects were later identified as two-thirds of a set of triplets.
In December, six months after the incident, B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office cleared all the involved officers of any wrongdoing.
The agency investigates police interactions where someone is killed or seriously injured, and its report shed more light on what happened the day of the robbery.
IIO report details incident, clears officers involved
Officers from the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team and Saanich Police Department responded to 911 calls that started coming in at 11:02 a.m. that day.
Ron MacDonald, chief civilian director of the IIO, wrote
in his report that the officers all acted lawfully when they fired the shots that killed the Auchterlonie brothers.
According to the report, 16 minutes after stepping into the bank and grabbing a small amount of cash, the brothers walked out into the parking lot as an unmarked van carrying seven police officers pulled in — all members of the emergency response team.
One of the brothers turned to face the van and raised his rifle toward it, which was captured on CCTV cameras.
An officer opened a sliding door and threw out a flashbang device to try and distract the two men. But gunfire broke out almost immediately, and several officers were shot.
The team's medic and driver both fired pistols at the Auchterlonies as other officers tended to each other's injuries, and Saanich police ran toward the scene and opened fire.
According to the report, one of the brothers were shot in the head as he tried to move across the parking lot, and the other was hit several times while he shot at the van, later trying to crawl toward his brother.
Autopsies showed one brother was hit by three police bullets and the other was struck by nine.
The report was based on statements from seven civilian witnesses and 24 police officers, 911 call recordings, surveillance video, cellphone footage from police and witnesses, as well as medical records.
The report also noted that two men were carrying 7.62-mm calibre SKS semi-automatic rifles with extended magazines, and one had a large sheath knife tucked into his belt.
A photo of Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie from Isaac's now-deleted Instagram account. (Isaac Auchterlonie/Instagram)
After the brothers were shot and killed, police found a large cache of guns, ammunition and homemade explosive devices in their car that was parked near the bank.
Isaac Auchterlonie's Instagram account, which has since been deleted, was full of gun photos, war references and video of him and his brother in camouflage, shooting rifles in the forest.
Friday's update will begin with a closed-door technical briefing scheduled for 10 a.m. PT, followed by a news conference at 11:30 a.m.
