Saanich Police joined by Victoria Police and RCMP respond to a shootout in Saanich, B.C., on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. Police officers involved in the shootout outside a Saanich bank last summer that left two twin brothers dead will not have their actions referred to Crown counsel for possible charges. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
SAANICH, B.C. – British Columbia’s Independent Investigations Office has cleared police officers who were involved in a wild shootout outside a Saanich, B.C., bank last summer that left twin brothers dead.
Ronald MacDonald, the office’s chief civilian director, says a review finds the officers showed remarkable courage under potentially deadly circumstances and there are no reasonable grounds to believe they committed an offence.
Twenty-two-year-old Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie of Duncan, B.C., were killed by police in the shootout that left six officers wounded outside a Bank of Montreal branch in Saanich on June 28.
MacDonald’s 10-page review reveals details of the shootout, including that police fired more than 100 rounds and that one of the brothers was shot nine times and the other three times.
One officer was shot in both legs and one arm, another was wounded in the upper abdomen and thigh, while a third was shot in the neck.
MacDonald’s report says it’s not possible to determine definitively whether the police or the Auchterlonie brothers fired first.
The Independent Investigations Office is a civilian-led police oversight agency responsible for conducting investigations into incidents of death or serious harm that may have been the result of the actions or inactions of a police officer, whether on or off duty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2022.
