OPP give 1:30 p.m. ET update on shooting of officers in Bourget

Arabnews24.ca:Thursday 11 May 2023 01:36 PM: One Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer has died, and two others were injured, after they were shot in the eastern Ontario community of Bourget in the municipality of Clarence-Rockland early Thursday morning.

The officer who was killed has been identified as Sgt. Eric Mueller, according to OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique.

"We anxiously await for further word on his fellow officers who are still at hospital," Carrique said in a post on Twitter Thursday morning.

OPP said they were planning to hold a news conference at their Ottawa detachment at 1 p.m. ET Thursday. The time has since been bumped to 1:30 p.m.

Just after 2 a.m., Mueller and two other officers were called to a disturbance at a home on Laval Street in Bourget, OPP said.

Someone had reported hearing a gunshot.

When the officers arrived, all three were shot by someone at the home, OPP said. They were taken to hospital in Ottawa, where one of them died. The two others are recovering; their conditions were not released.

OPP say one person has been arrested, and that there is no danger to the public. Officers from the Ottawa Police Service are assisting.

Madison Bach, who lives about three doors down from the house where the shooting took place, told CBC on Thursday that her partner thought he heard something at 2 a.m., but thought it might be their dog and went back to bed.

At 3 a.m. Bach woke up to nurse their six-month-old daughter and saw the flashing lights of first responders outside.

Three OPP officers taken to hospital after shooting early Thursday morning

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A shooting in Bourget, Ont. sent three Ontario Provincial Police officers to hospital early in the morning of May 11, 2023. One of the officers has since died, OPP say.

"It's just really scary that it can happen so close to where you live. Bourget is a very remote community. It's very quiet, normally, and safe. So the fact that something like this happened so close to our house is really unnerving, especially when we have a daughter who we're trying to keep safe and protect," she said.

"It really makes you re-evaluate things. We just moved here about a year ago ... hopefully this is just a one-off, but with the rate of crime increasing it's really scary."

'It's devastating'

The MPP for the area, Stéphane Sarrazin, told CBC in an interview from Toronto Thursday that officials will be working with first responders to get them proper support.

"Our thoughts are with the police officer and their family, and it's devastating to hear that kind of situation went on in our riding," he said.

In a Twitter post Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called Mueller's killing senseless and asked people to pray for the other officers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the news coming out of Bourget "awful," and said the two injured officers are in his thoughts. 

The mayor of Clarence-Rockland, Mario Zanth, said in an interview that the community is shocked.

"You see this in different areas, and you're always shocked when it happens everywhere else, but when it happens at home, it definitely hits a little harder," Zanth said. 

"The community is doing everything it can to support itself and each other," he said.

Bourget is about 50 kilometres east of downtown Ottawa.

This is a developing story. More to come.