UPDATE: The shooter has been identified as Andrew Michael Crews, 32, a tattoo artist from Seattle.
The Canadian border guard, who is expected to make a full recovery after being shot on duty, had not gone through the firearms training that the Canadian Border Services Agency is trying to complete by 2016.
Lori Bowcock completed training at the CBSA college in July and began working at the Peace Arch border crossing that same month, said Roslyn MacVicar, the agency’s Pacific regional director general on Wednesday.
Bowcock was in a customs booth on Tuesday afternoon when a man in a white van with Washington state plates shot her and then killed himself, said Jason McMichael, first national vice-president of the Customs and Immigration Union, in an email to The Huffington Post B.C.
"I can confirm that there were in fact two shots fired. The first directed at our member and the second 10-15 seconds later was the self-inflicted gunshot. Previous information was inaccurate," he said.
There had been conflicting reports about whether Bowcock was hit by a stray bullet from a suicidal gunman, or if she was shot intentionally.
RCMP investigators are coming through surveillance video to determine what led to the shooting.
Bowcock, a former 911 dispatcher in Ontario, is recovering from surgery after the bullet passed through her neck into her shoulder, a family friend told The Huffington Post B.C.
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Peace Arch Border Shooting (Pictures)
Her mother and brothers are by her side in a Vancouver hospital where she’s expected to make a full recovery, said MacVicar.
Despite the shooting, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he's not interested in speeding up the arming of border guards because it might compromise safety.
Since a pledge in 2006 to arm its 4,800 guards within 10 years, the CBSA has trained just under half of them. Since Bowcock had just graduated recently, she had not yet completed the arming program training, said MacVicar.
"This incident is a profound reminder of the risks that border services officers assume every day in their role to protect the safety and security of all Canadians," she added.
The Peace Arch border, the third busiest crossing between Canada and the U.S., re-opened to southbound traffic at 4 p.m. PT Wednesday, while the northbound port of entry is scheduled to re-open Thursday at 8 a.m. PT.
With files from The Canadian Press