British Columbia’s civilian-led police watchdog has cleared police officers’ fatal use of force in the midst of a shootout outside a Saanich bank last summer.
Six officers were wounded and two armed suspects were shot dead on June 28 after the pair entered a Bank of Montreal on Shelbourne Street around 11 a.m. and took hostages.
“(The suspects) had reacted to police presence with unbridled violence at the upper end of the scale that could reasonably be anticipated in a civilized society,” the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) found in its Wednesday report.
“In those circumstances, (the suspects) posed a clear and imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm to officers and to the public, and the use of lethal force in response was justified.”
The investigation also revealed new details about the attack it described as a “series of dramatic and violent events” that occurred “in the space of mere seconds.”
The reported stated that the two suspects, whom police have identified as 22-year-old twins Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie, were prepared for violence with body armour and rigid leg protection tucked beneath their outer gear — windbreakers, balaclavas, gloves, and combat boots.
The Auchterlonies, who hail from Duncan, carried 7.62-millimetre calibre SKS semi-automatic rifles with extended magazines. One of the brothers also had a large sheath knife hanging on the back of his belt and carried a large black bag, the report found.
Upon entering the bank, the report stated that one of the brothers fired a single shot into the ceiling. They then “corralled” bank staff and patrons into the area of the vault, the report said.
“They then spent several minutes pacing around and occasionally looking out through the vestibule windows into the parking lot.
“While there is no ‘typical’ bank robbery, usually persons in this situation would attempt to escape as quickly as possible. (The suspects) did the opposite.”
Alerted to the robbery in progress, Saanich police and members of the RCMP’s Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) assembled outside the bank. The GVERT van was already in the neighbourhood “engaged in a completely separate operation,” according to police.
When the twins exited the bank about 16 minutes after entering, they walked towards a white Toyota they had parked in the west side of the parking lot. At “the same moment,” the GVERT van turned into the lot and one of the suspects raised his rifle towards it.
An officer tossed a flashbang device out of the vehicle to distract or stun the pair and make a quick arrest, the report said, but gunfire ensued instead. It is “impossible” to tell who fired first — police or one of the suspects, the watchdog found.
One witness told the IIO that he saw the suspect shoot first, breaking a window. Bank surveillance footage, however, captured the other suspect stumbling back towards that window, which was shattered by an apparent projectile coming from the direction of the police officers, according to the report.
A GVERT officer could have fired first in response to the suspect who raised his rifle, the report said, noting that as soon as the van’s slider door was fully opened, its occupants were struck by bullets.
“Boom, boom, boom,” an officer described to the watchdog, adding that he could feel “the percussion of each one of them, they were so loud and so close.”
He was shot in the leg and arm, the report read, while another officer who tried to exit the van was shot in the upper abdomen and thigh. A third officer was shouting that he had been shot in the neck, it stated.
That’s when the officer who tossed the flashbang — a medic armed with a pistol — stepped in front of the wounded officers and fired at the suspects. The sergeant in the van’s drive seat, meanwhile, fired at least 28 rounds through the windshield before exiting, taking cover in a bush, and firing some more. He was eventually struck in the foot by a ricocheting police bullet.
As the remaining GVERT members exited the van and tried to patch wounds, Saanich police officers advanced on foot. Some fired at the suspects, the report stated, and others assisted wounded officers.
One of the brothers was shot in the head and fell to the ground. The other, who was also firing at the van, was struck by several bullets and fell, the report said.
A witness and an officer recalled him trying to crawl — likely to his brother or his brother’s gun, his own rifle having been disabled, the watchdog found. More gunfire from police followed.
The violence ended with one brother dying with three bullet wounds, the other with nine. Their armour appeared to have deflected other gunfire from police, who shot more than 100 rounds, the report estimated.
The last of the wounded officers left the hospital three months later. There were no civilian casualties, the report said.
The RCMP has refused to reveal how many and what kind of weapons were recovered from the scene that day, nor what kind of explosive was found in the suspects’ vehicle, which was searched in the aftermath. Police have also declined to say whether the suspects obtained the weapons legally.
The IIO report only revealed “a large cache of weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive devices” were found in the trunk of the Auchterlonies’ car.
In a Wednesday news conference held in response to the release of the report, Saanich Police Chief Dean Duthie said he didn’t know the capacities or origins of the guns. He suggested it’s possible, however, that the brothers intended to engage police in gunfire all along.
“When they came out and were confronted by police, we know how they were dressed, the kind of arms that they were carrying — they were obviously preparing themselves,” he said.
The RCMP’s own investigation into the shootout is ongoing, with no timeframe provided for its conclusion. Sgt. Chris Manseau declined to comment on Wednesday, citing the ongoing police work.
The motive of the assailants remains unclear. Duthie said it’s possible it may never be known, but he hopes the RCMP’s investigation will be able to shed some light on it.
The Auchterlonies had worked at Pacific Energy, a company that makes wood stoves and gas fireplaces in Duncan, until late June. Isaac had also previously worked at the Canadian Tire in Duncan.
A former classmate previously told Global News they attended Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay.
Neither had a criminal record, police have confirmed.
Pictures and videos on a now-deleted Instagram account attributed to Isaac, meanwhile, showed a variety of firearms, some with high-capacity magazines, as well as target practice in the forest, anti-Trudeau memes, and material denoting an interest in the Second World War.
Duthie and Victoria Police Chief Del Manak expressed gratitude Wednesday for the “heroic” actions of responding officers, civilian staff, paramedics, and firefighters, along with the bank staff, the community, and the IIO’s investigators. They also acknowledged many details about the shooting remain in shadow.
“I fully respect and appreciate that such lingering questions can impede and delay healing and closure, which can make it difficult to move forward in a healthy and confident way,” Duthie said.
“We are absolutely still healing and recovering as we live through some good days and lean on each through some darker days.”
He couldn’t imagine the police response having been “done quicker and more efficiently” than it was, he added.
Editor’s Note: This is a corrected story. A previous version indicated that an RCMP officer tossed a flashbang device. In fact, it was a member of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team.