A British Columbia police chase that ended in a crash that killed two people has been linked to a homicide more than 300 kilometers away, according to a police update.
On Saturday morning, Mounties in the Okanagan neighborhood of Summerland said they were called to reports of a car on fire on Garnet Valley Road. After extinguishing the flames, they found two dead bodies.
“Investigators now believe the two individuals in the vehicle died as a result of foul play and a stolen vehicle has been identified as being connected to this murder,” the Southeast District Major Crimes Unit said in a statement released Tuesday.
A stolen vehicle was “tagged as being associated with the human remains,” the statement continued.
On Sunday afternoon, officers from the Abbotsford Police Department attempted to stop a car that had been reported stolen, according to a media release, noting that the pursuit was authorized because the car in question was connected to a “violent crime in another jurisdiction.” .
During the police pursuit, the suspected stolen vehicle lost control, crashing on Maclure Road near Clearbrook Road.
“There were no other civilians or civilian vehicles involved in the collision,” wrote spokesman Const. Paul Walker.
The woman in the passenger seat of the Acura died at the scene.
The driver was taken to hospital, but later died as well.
The crumpled Acura was barely recognizable as it was pulled from the scene covered by a blue tarp.
The Independent Investigation Service has been called in to investigate the fatal crash as it happened during a police pursuit. The watchdog is called in to investigate any police-related incident that results in serious injury or death, regardless of whether there are allegations of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the homicide investigation is ongoing, with Mounties saying it includes “identifying the victims and determining the extent of the involvement of the stolen vehicle.”
With files from Regan Hasegawa of CTV News Vancouver.
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