Multiple explosive devices were found in a vehicle associated with two suspects shot outside a bank in Saanich, British Columbia.
Sanitch Chief Const. Dean Duthie said Wednesday that the RCMP explosives disposal unit was able to move the device from the vehicle to a local landfill and destroy it.
Immediately after the shooting on Tuesday, police evacuated the area after the RCMP explosives disposal unit was summoned.
Six police officers were shot dead and two suspects were killed in a gun battle with police on Tuesday.
Duthie said three officers were hospitalized, including one in the intensive care unit, while another officer needed more surgery.
He talked to one of the hospital police and said the police were there to help him.
“We are here for his family … to let him know that the police community is 100 percent behind him.”
Police do not consider the public at risk, but police are still investigating the possibility of a third suspect, the chief said.
He said the police were acting on vague information.
“Our goal was to keep the people safe,” he said on Tuesday about police who ordered residents near the bank to stay inside.
Police said in a statement that the suspect’s identity, background and motives could not be confirmed.
Duthie said work was underway to confirm the suspect’s name.
Duthie saw many of the video footage of the incident and said it was a miracle that no one else died.
“It’s amazing that no other citizen or civilian has been injured,” he praised the officer’s swift action.
“Both patrol officers and Greater Victoria emergency response officers are doing harm to reach successful and safe conclusions as quickly as possible.”
A woman trapped in a bank during a robbery told CFAX Radio that she was meeting her manager when she heard the blast and the subsequent silence.
Langford’s Sheriflyer, 59, said she was “a man with a full assault rifle, with an assault rifle,” a few feet away from her when viewed from the door.
According to Flyer, the masked man wore black clothes, a vest of armor over his jacket, and a black rifle that was shorter and stronger than what he was accustomed to in the media.
“The energy from them was completely calm,” she said.
She heard a shooter quietly say “vault” to the manager, and the manager handed him the key, and they both went out of the office, she said.
Flyer said the other suspect was walking around the floor “as if he was walking in the park, as if he was waiting for something,” just walking back and forth past the office. ..
She said the robbers pushed all 22 people in the bank against the walls of the hallway, waiting for something that felt like eternity. She said, “I couldn’t hear anything happening outside. I couldn’t hear the sirens.”
She heard in a loud voice, “Police!” Then the gunshots rang and everyone ran and hid.
According to Flyer, all police officers involved in the “absolutely crazy incident” responded professionally and then treated the people in the bank kindly and worried.
By Dirk Meissner
follow