A portrait is beginning to emerge of Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie, 22-year-old brothers from central Vancouver Island who were named Saturday as suspects in a botched robbery last week at a Bank of Montreal branch in Saanich, B.C. As children, according to their closest friends, they were shy, a bit nerdy and loved fantasy novels and Star Wars figurines. One was rarely found without the other. After graduation, they seemed to leave the face of the Earth, ghosting their former friends. According to one of the brother’s online footprints, he became increasingly angry and radical, obsessed with guns, explosives and notions of government tyranny. The two youths were killed in a shootout with police outside the bank on Tuesday. Six responding officers were also shot, with three suffering life-threatening injuries. On Sunday, Victoria Police spokesman Bowen Osoko said one remained in hospital but all three faced “a long road ahead”. On a now-locked Instagram profile, Isaac regularly posted between 2018 and May of this year showing photos and videos of him holding or using various firearms, the models of which were often tagged in the post description. Two Vancouver Island brothers have been named as the gunmen killed during a botched bank robbery in Saanich, B.C. A bank robbery shakes up the sleepy community in suburban Victoria Among the firearms frequently seen and identified in the profile were an M14 semi-automatic rifle, a Russian SKS semi-automatic rifle and a C7A2 assault rifle, which is a standard firearm for members of the Canadian military. More than a dozen of Isaac’s Instagram posts featured what appeared to be glorification of violence against government officials and police. These posts include media coverage of the attempted bank robbery in North Hollywood in 1997. the Waco siege in 1993, when federal officers seized a Branch Davidian religious compound in Texas. and clashes between the Irish Democratic Army and British soldiers and police. A handful of posts specifically targeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his government’s recent move to ban gun sales and implement vaccine mandates. Along with pro-gun and anti-government posts are videos of Isaac shooting guns in a forest. While it is unclear who is filming these handheld videos, other posts show the two Auchterlonie brothers standing together in the woods. In one video, they are seen standing on a ridge holding rifles. Justin Henry, who considered himself the closest friend of the Auchterlonie brothers throughout his childhood, said he first met the pair in 4th grade at Bench Elementary School in Cowichan Bay, B.C. The three shared a passion for the Lego movies, Star Wars The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he said. A bank robbery in Saanich, BC turned into a frenzied shootout that left two suspects dead and six police officers injured. Saanich Police Chief Const. Dean Duthie says officers exchanged gunfire with robbery suspects outside a bank in suburban Victoria. The Canadian Press At a news conference, RCMP described the brothers as twins. But Mr. Henry and five other young men and women who spoke to The Globe and Mail said they were actually triplets, with a sister completing the trio. They also had two older brothers. Mr Henry described the Auchterlonie brothers as “incredibly clever”. He could always tell the two apart, but “they looked pretty good and used to get it wrong all the time.” Both were “very quiet and very shy,” she said. By middle school at Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay, B.C., when they started branching out, they were like two peas in a pod: One was rarely without the other. “They looked out for each other. It was a team.” A young woman who went to school with the triplets said the brothers were extremely shy, to the point of being debilitating. When the two spoke, the young woman said, it was almost like they were whispering. In high school, he says, they were almost invisible. Another young man who was close to the brothers grew up near them in Shawnigan Lake, rode the bus to school with them every day and spent a lot of time at their house. He said the two were into shooting and hunting as children. But he added that neither rifle ownership nor sport shooting is unusual on rural Vancouver Island. Like him, the brothers were bullied in high school at George Bonner Elementary. Of the two, she says Matthew was a little more dynamic. The Globe does not identify the sources out of concern for their online safety. The young man drifted away after high school, losing touch with the Auchterlonies, but he noticed the brothers’ Instagram pages had become increasingly politicized in recent years and focused on guns, shootings and camouflage – to the extent he saw it as concerning . (Mathew’s Instagram page was deleted shortly before he was named a suspect.) In fact, he worried that the brothers might do something drastic and violent. Once the thought crossed his mind that they might engage in gunfire. Mr Henry also recalled seeing photographs of the brothers in tactical gear. They often “dressed in camo,” adding that they “liked blowing things up. That was their great interest.” Isaac’s Instagram page shows a certificate for pre-reserve military training, but the brothers don’t appear to have received any formal training beyond that. Captain Amber Lawson, public affairs officer with the Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers, confirmed Sunday that there are no records showing the Auchterlonie brothers were cadets. Shortly after graduation, the brothers began to drift away from friends, becoming increasingly isolated, Mr. Henry and several other friends recalled. Mr. Henry said he had not spoken to either brother for some years. “Something had to have happened to make them do something like that. They were really good kids,” he said, adding that he was having a hard time wrapping his head around what happened last week. “The motive behind the armed robbery and subsequent shootout with police has yet to be determined,” RCMP Corporal Alex Bérubé said at a news conference Saturday. Police said officers, including members of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, were first called around 11am on Tuesday to a report that armed men had entered a BMO branch on the corner of Shelbourne and Pear streets. The shooting began as the suspects exited the bank. It is not clear who fired first, but according to several witnesses, up to 50 rounds were fired. Police said the investigation has so far identified the Auchterlonie brothers as the only suspects in the botched robbery. Police found – and later safely detonated – explosives in the brothers’ car, a white ’92 Toyota Camry with black racing stripes. Neither had a criminal record, police said Saturday, and neither was known to them. Cpl. Berube said the brothers were identified Friday by the BC Medical Examiner’s Office. He said police have spoken with the suspects’ family and are cooperating with the investigation. On Sunday, police reopened the area around the BMO branch in Saanich. The Saanich Police Association and the City of Victoria Police Association have launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the officers injured in the shootout and their families. By Sunday afternoon, it had raised more than $124,000. With reporting by Jake Kivantz The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
