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Angus David Mitchell was largely unknown to police when he was shot by officers in Maple Ridge, following a public safety alert that named him as an "armed and dangerous" person of interest in three shootings.

He lived in his van, was recently evicted from a rental suite in Vancouver and had occasional work at a security firm in Victoria. But beyond that, Mr. Mitchell's life is a puzzle that police are still trying to piece together, following the shootout that ended with his death on Wednesday.

Whatever link he might have had to two people killed in a sushi restaurant on Sunday remains under active investigation, and no motive is known. But police do know the 51-year-old man shot in his driveway on Tuesday was Mr. Mitchell's former landlord.

Corporal Rick Skolrood said Mr. Mitchell, 26, "was not on our radar" before that, although he had been named in one minor complaint.

Sergeant Jennifer Pound, of the RCMP Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said Mr. Mitchell was tentatively linked to the two Sunday shootings because "a similar weapon" was used, and "when you see shootings so similar within a few days then it really does raise some red flags."

A glimpse into Mr. Mitchell's personal life appears on his Facebook page, where he posted an obscenity-laced rant against Mirko Filipovic, the president and owner of Themis Security Services Ltd., in Victoria.

Mr. Filipovic said he hired Mr. Mitchell several times for security assignments, but never had any trouble with him, and was startled when police called to warn him a former employee might pose a threat.

Robert Gordon, director of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, said the Facebook rant was not so extreme that it should have alerted police to any problem. He said Mr. Mitchell's post "just reads like an angry employee who's been fired," and not the ravings of someone who is about to go on a killing rampage.

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