Strong police presence at the scene – Three of the six police officers injured are undergoing surgery.
Two gunmen were killed and six police officers were injured, some seriously, during a bank robbery in western Canada, local officials said on Tuesday, adding that they were continuing to search for another suspect.
VIDEO: Police and suspects exchange multiple shots in a deadly shooting at a Saanich bank.
Police say the two suspects are dead and six police officers were shot and taken to hospital.
Read more: https://t.co/VY38SnxDAr pic.twitter.com/Ty7sE6tx9L
– CBC British Columbia (@cbcnewsbc) June 29, 2022
“The operation is still ongoing, with a strong police presence in the area,” Sanic police chief Dean Dathi told a news conference.
Around 11:00 (local time; 21:00 Greek time), two armed suspects entered a bank branch in Sanic, a city of about 114,000 people in the district of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.
LIVE: Saanich Police provide an update after multiple people were injured in an exchange of gunfire between suspects and police officers outside of a bank. https://t.co/LZXepk7aJb
– CBC British Columbia (@cbcnewsbc) June 28, 2022
“Numerous police officers intervened and stopped the two suspects, who opened fire” against them, according to a police press release.
No banker, customer, neighborhood or passerby was injured, according to the same source.
“It is difficult, we have police officers in the hospital at the moment who have suffered serious injuries,” said Police Chief Dathi.
Three of the six police officers who were injured are undergoing surgery, the other three are expected to be discharged, he clarified.
Earlier, houses and shops were ordered to be evacuated at the scene of the bloody incident because police feared there was an “explosive device” in a car believed to have been used by the suspects.
The incident “shocked a lot of people”, said the police chief Dathi, adding that the reinforcements of the federal police were called.
Sanic is located in southwestern Canada, near the border with the US state of Washington.
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