An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was killed overnight from Wednesday to Thursday during an intervention in the town of Bourget, in the east of the province.
Two other police officers on duty were targeted by gunfire and were injured, but their lives were not in danger, according to the OPP.
According to initial information, the authorities were called to go, around 2 a.m., to a residence on Laval Street concerning gunshots.
On the spot, the three police officers were greeted by gunfire. The OPP specified that a person was arrested and affirms that there is no danger for the population.
“It is with extremely heavy heart that I announce that OPP Sergeant Eric Mueller was killed in the line of duty,” OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique confirmed, on Twitter.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also reacted on the same social network, citing “devastating news”. “My thoughts are with his family and friends. Please join me in praying for his fellow officers as we await news of their condition,” he wrote.
The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau also spoke of “terrible news coming from Bourget”. “I offer my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sergeant Eric Mueller of the[OPP]who was killed in the line of duty, and I am thinking of the two injured police officers,” he wrote.
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Eric Mueller is the fifth Ontario police officer killed on duty since September, and the 10th police officer killed in Canada.
moment of silence
In Saint-Hyacinthe, this morning, all the directors of police of Quebec gathered at their annual conference observed a minute of silence to underline the tragic death of their colleague from Ontario.
– With the collaboration of Jonathan Tremblay
5 Ontario police officers killed since September 2022
- September 12, 2022: Police officer Andrew Hong is shot and killed while taking his lunch break at a restaurant in Mississauga. He was 48 years old and had worked for the Toronto Police Service for 22 years.
- October 11, 2022: Constables Devon Northrup, 33, and Morgan Russell, 54, of the South Simcoe Police Service were responding to a call for a disturbance at a residence in Innisfil, north of Toronto, when they were greeted by gunfire. The two police officers were shot and died of their injuries in hospital.
- December 27, 2022: Ontario Provincial Police Constable Grzegorz Pierzchala was reportedly shot and killed during an ambush in the town of Hagersville, southwest of Hamilton. He was 28 years old.
- May 11, 2023: Sergeant Eric Mueller and two of his colleagues were shot while responding to a call for an argument at a residence in Bourget, east of Ottawa. Policeman Mueller passed away at the hospital.