Saanich police officer remains in ICU a week after bank shooting

CHEK

A Saanich police officer remains in ICU but is showing signs of improvement one week after he was injured in a bank shooting that left two suspects dead, the district’s police chief said Tuesday.

In a news conference, Chief Const. Dean Duthie provided an update on the conditions and backgrounds of the three Saanich officers shot in the June 28 incident but did not release their identities.

The most seriously injured officer remains in intensive care and has undergone three surgeries, Duthie said, adding the officer has eight years of service with the department and has served in frontline patrol, community engagement and most recently the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team.

Duthie said that officer is “showing signs of improvement day-by-day” and is able to have short conversations with his family and close friends.

Another officer who remains in stable condition in hospital is continuing to recover, and Duthie said he visited the officer Monday “which let me tell you, was extremely moving and positive.” That officer has eight years of service with SPD during which he’s served in patrol, community engagement and GVERT.

A third officer released from hospital who has returned home has seven years of service with the department and 2.5 years with another department prior to that. He has served in patrol, the detective unit and with GVERT.

Three Victoria police officers serving with GVERT were also injured in the shooting, with one remaining in hospital as of Tuesday due to serious injuries.

A VicPD spokesman told CHEK News says the department is still hurting and healing and that the community support has been overwhelming.

A GoFundMe launched by the Saanich and Victoria police unions to aid in the injured officers’ recovery had already raised $180,000 as of Tuesday.

Saanich Police originally said they would be providing the names of the three injured Saanich officers on Tuesday, but in an update a half-hour before the news conference, said they would not be providing that information.

Duthie explained he changed his mind after speaking with injured officers and their families. While he declined to share more on the extent of their injuries, he said they were “still being fully discovered.”

“My emphasis and my priority, as the community’s is, is on the health and wellness of these people,” he said, adding he didn’t want to risk negatively impacting the healing process.

The District of Saanich said Tuesday it would lit up city hall and the Craigflower Bridge in blue as a show of support for the Saanich Police Department “and all officers of the region.” The City of Victoria also announced it would light up its city hall in blue.

On Sunday, police finally reopened a previously cordoned-off area around the shooting, which occurred outside the Bank of Montreal in the 3600-block of Shelbourne Street.

A day earlier, they identified the killed suspects in the shooting as twin brothers from Duncan, Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie. Neither had criminal records and the pair was not known to police. The brothers’ family is cooperating with investigators.

The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, which has assumed conduct of the investigation, remained quiet about the status of the case providing no new details Tuesday.

Watch Saanich Police Chief Const. Dean Duthie’s full news conference here:

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