The two 22-year-old brothers, perpetrators of the Saanich Vancouver Island bank robbery, had taken steps to join the Canadian Armed Forces, according to the Department of Defense.
Isaac and Mathew Auchterlonie, from Victoria, were shot dead in the shooting after a bank robbery at a Bank of Montreal (BMO) branch went awry last week.
Six police officers were injured, one of whom is still in intensive care after three surgeries. “He’s showing signs of improvement day by day,” Saanich Police Chief Dean Duthie said in a news conference on Tuesday.
Mathew had applied to join the Canadian Army but failed an aptitude test, while his brother, who is considered an Army enthusiast, completed the CAF Soldier for a Day program in 2018.
The two brothers are portrayed by those around them as increasingly angry and radical, frustrated and obsessed with guns and “government tyranny,” according to the Globe and Mail report.