The two 22-year-old brothers, perpetrators of the bank robbery in Saanich, on Vancouver Island, had taken steps to join the Canadian Armed Forces, according to the Department of Defence.

Isaac and Mathew Auchterlonie, from Victoria, were shot dead in the shooting after a Bank of Montreal (BMO) branch robbery went wrong last week.

Six police officers were injured, one of whom is still in intensive care, after undergoing three surgeries. “He is showing signs of improvement day by day,” Saanich Police Chief Dean Duthie said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Mathew had applied to join the Canadian Army but failed an aptitude test, while his brother, 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 what the "Globe and Mail" reported.