Twins killed in Canada bank shootout aimed to kill as many police as possible

Twin brothers who died in a hail of gunfire last summer outside a Canadian bank had been planning their attack for years, with a goal to kill as many officers as possible, police said on Friday.

An investigation by the Vancouver Island integrated major crime unit found that 22-year-old Isaac Auchterlonie and his twin, Mathew, showed up at the Victoria, British Columbia, area bank on 28 June 2022 wearing full body armor and carrying semi-automatic rifles. The pair had strong anti-government and anti-police views and did not expect to live past the confrontation, police said.

Cpl Alex Bérubé of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the pair 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 after finding out they had to move 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.

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 brothers had licenses for both non-restricted and restricted firearms, Bérubé said.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Article URL : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/20/twins-killed-canada-shootout-kill-police-bank