The dying of a Metro Vancouver RCMP officer who was shot lifeless whereas executing a search warrant is reverberating with regulation enforcement officers throughout the nation.
The Nationwide Police Federation, which represents RCMP members throughout Canada, says it has launched a GoFundMe fundraising marketing campaign for the household of Const. Rick O’Brien, 51, who died yesterday in Coquitlam, B.C.
Kevin Halwa, chair of the federation’s Benevolent Basis, says calling the temper within the regulation enforcement group sombre “could be an understatement.”
Halwa says the tragedy is a robust reminder of the dangers law enforcement officials tackle of their day by day work as soon as they “step as much as serve.”
Police say two different officers have been injured within the incident, and a suspect in his 20s was additionally shot and is in hospital with non-life-threatening accidents.
Condolences from quite a lot of regulation enforcement officers and businesses have poured in on social media, together with federal Justice Minister Arif Virani, the Manitoba Affiliation of Chiefs of Police and Alberta Public Security Minister Mike Ellis.
The GoFundMe marketing campaign for O’Brien’s household has raised $41,170 since launch, with a aim of finally elevating $50,000.
Halwa says the funds can’t come near changing O’Brien’s loss, however the Benevolent Basis is hoping to tackle as a lot of the monetary pressures dealing with the household within the wake of his dying.
“If we will take even simply an oz. of strain off of that household and Rick’s family members, then that is why we’re right here,” Halwa mentioned.
O’Brien, who had a spouse and kids, labored with at-risk youth earlier than becoming a member of the RCMP and spent his complete policing profession on the Ridge Meadows detachment.
He was embellished for bravery within the rescue of victims throughout a house invasion inside months of becoming a member of the RCMP in 2016.
Halwa says he hopes the tragedy reminds the general public of the people behind the badge.
“, they’re the moms and dads, the soccer coaches, and so they’re doing their rattling greatest to do what they’ll to make the world higher,” he mentioned. “Their hearts are all in the precise place to make the world higher.”
O’Brien’s dying in Coquitlam comes lower than a 12 months after one other officer, Const. Shaelyn Yang, was stabbed to dying whereas accompanying a Burnaby, B.C., metropolis employee to a campsite utilized by homeless residents.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Sept. 23, 2023.
