Six police officers were shot and injured by two suspects who were shot dead in a bank robbery on Tuesday morning in Saanich, a suburb of Victoria.
Saanich police say officers from the Greater Victoria Rapid Response Unit drove to a branch of the Bank of Montreal on Shelbourne Street after learning that two armed suspects entered the scene. around 11 a.m. local time.
However, when they arrived, the police were greeted by bursts of bullets, leading the officers to respond with their service weapons.
The two suspects holed up in the bank were shot dead by police, but did not first hit six officers, three from Saanach Police and three from Victoria Police.
“We expect some of the officers to be discharged from hospital after emergency treatment, but others suffered serious injuries and required surgery,” Saanach Police said.
No member of the public or bank employee was injured, however.
Amateur videos published on social networks suggest the violence of the event. A video relayed on Twitter shows the police running towards the bank and opening fire, while dozens of detonations sound in the space of a few seconds.
“It didn’t stop. I looked around and saw people hiding near their cars in the parking lot,” Hannah Young, an employee of a pharmacy located across from the bank, told the Times Colonist.
“We saw old people sitting outside and told them to come inside,” Ms Young continued.
Another witness, Fabien Cousineau, told CTV News that he saw two police officers being shot. “It was just awful. They were dragging them behind a police van,” he said.
Cleo Gagner, for her part, was shopping for cat food with her 15-year-old son at a nearby veterinary clinic when the gunfire broke out.
“A Saanich police officer started driving toward BMO with his door open. He got out of his vehicle, took his weapon and the gunfire intensified, so he retreated,” the woman who estimates that she heard between 40 and 50 gunshots told CTV.
The police immediately set up a large security perimeter, in addition to ordering people in the area to confine themselves inside, for fear that a third suspect was on the run. Investigators also feared that an explosive device was in a vehicle, forcing the evacuation of businesses and residences.
Saanich Mayor Fred Haynes appeared shaken by the shooting. “Our thoughts are with the police, employees and residents. No words can describe how awful this is,” he wrote on Twitter.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is in Europe, said he was “shocked and saddened by the violence in Saanich” in British Columbia on Tuesday evening.
“My thoughts are with the officers who were injured in today’s shooting and their colleagues who faced danger to protect people,” he tweeted.