SAANICH, B.C. — Twin brothers who died in a hail of gunfire outside a Victoria-area bank had been planning their attack for years, with a goal to kill as many officers as possible, police said Friday.
Isaac and Mathew Auchterlonie showed up at the bank on June 28, 2022, wearing full body armour and carrying legally purchased semi-automatic rifles, police said.
An investigation by the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit found the 22-year-old twins held strong anti-government and anti-police views and did not expect to live past the confrontation, RCMP Cpl. Alex Bérubé told a news conference at the Saanich Police Department.
"It was determined the suspects' primary objective was to shoot and kill police officers in what they saw as a stand against government regulations, especially in relation to firearms ownership," he said.
Bérubé said "copious amounts of evidence" collected from the scene of the shooting and the suspects' home led police to conclude the twins were "isolated from society," spending most of their time together.
Police don't know why the twins held such strong anti-authority beliefs, he said.
"That's a human factor … Sometimes we'll just never know what went through a person's mind to carry out what they did."
Throughout the news conference, police declined to reveal specific details of their findings about the twins' beliefs.
"We want to do our best to provide as much information to you to bring about a sense of closure, without inciting others to take similar actions," RCMP Supt. Sanjaya Wijayakoon said.
Police did say they looked at everything from social media to purchases the twins made to determine their motive for an armed confrontation.
As the twins left the bank, members of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, who were in the area on an unrelated matter, drove into the parking lot to assist other officers, police said.
Six officers were injured in the ensuing gunfight. An earlier report said police fired as many as 100 rounds at the suspects, killing them both.
Saanich police Chief Dean Duthie said five officers from his department remain off duty as they recover from both physical and mental impacts of their involvement in the incident.
Some anticipate returning soon, he said.
"Everyone is on their own journey of recovery, at different speeds, and we accept that and we'll embrace that and be with them every step."
Bérubé said the brothers had been planning some sort of "act of extreme violence" since 2019 and originally wanted the shootout to happen in mid-2023.
They decided to move up their timeline while moving out of the house they shared with their mother.
"The suspects concluded that they could not move their arsenal of weapons to a new location without attracting attention, and thus electing the bank location at random," Bérubé said.
He said they had planned for a bank robbery to incite police, but the Bank of Montreal branch had not been a specific target.
The men's family was not aware of their plans, and they condemned their actions, police noted.
In the trunk of their vehicle, police discovered more than 30 improvised explosive devices, four additional firearms and more than 3,500 rounds of ammunition.
The pair had licences for both non-restricted and restricted firearms, Bérubé said.
The men did not intend to come out of the shootout alive, he said.
"They were well-equipped to cause a lot of damage. We are considering the whole situation to be lucky, for lack of a better word," he said, acknowledging the injuries but saying no police officers or civilians were killed and police actions saved lives that day.
Police said in an earlier briefing that both men worked at the same employer in the manufacturing sector up until a week before the shooting. They spent a significant amount of their income on their preparations, they said.
Brian Sauvé, president of the National Police Federation, issued a statement Friday thanking the officers who responded to the "horrific" incident that "purposely drew out and targeted police."
Shelli Fryer was one of the customers who was held at the bank that day, and she remembers the armed men calmly waiting inside.
"What were they waiting for? Pacing back and forth, slowly," she said in an interview on Friday.
Police said 22 staff and customers held by the men during the 16 minutes they were inside were not targeted but were used to draw a police response.
Fryer said it didn't feel that way when the men were standing in the doorway with an assault rifle pointed at them.
"I'm supposed to know they weren't there to harm us?"
The injuries of the officers still haunt her and she tears up at the thought of their bravery that day, she said.
Fryer, who called 911 while being held hostage, said she had hoped police would inform her about the investigative report before releasing it to the public.
"I'm still suffering in great trauma and great moral distress."
— with files from Hina Alam
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2023.
Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
