Canadian police shot dead two men and six officers were wounded during a gunfight at a bank in British Columbia on Tuesday (June 28), and nearby homes were evacuated after the discovery of a possible explosive device, police said.
Emergency response team members arrived on the scene at the Bank of Montreal in Saanich, on Vancouver Island, near the border with the U.S. state of Washington, around 11 a.m. (1800 GMT), law enforcement said.
”I can confirm that two suspects are deceased and several members of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, known as GVERT, have been transported to the hospital during ongoing incident at a bank (Bank of Montreal) in Saanich today,” Saanich police chief Dean Duthie told the media.
Later, police said they were lifting a shelter-in-place order but that the block near the bank remained closed over the potential bomb.
Six officers were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds, some of whom would soon be released. Police said others had sustained very serious injuries and had been taken into surgery.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter he was “shocked and saddened” by the violence.
“I’m keeping the police officers who were injured in today’s shooting—and their colleagues who also rushed towards danger to keep people safe—in my thoughts,” Trudeau said.