'A fallen hero': Fellow police, loved ones honour RCMP officer Rick O'Brien killed in Coquitlam, B.C.
Police fundraise to support family of constable shot dead in B.C. community
Loved ones and officers are honouring Ridge Meadows RCMP Const. Rick O'Brien, who was shot dead on Friday while executing a drug-related search warrant at a residence in Coquitlam, B.C.
Two other officers were injured in the shooting at a home near Pinetree Way and Glen Drive, along with a suspect who also had to be hospitalized, in the city of 150,000 about 25 kilometres east of Vancouver.
On Saturday afternoon, B.C.'s prosecution service approved a first-degree murder charge against 25-year-old Coquitlam resident Nicholas Bellemare, as well as one count of attempted murder with a firearm. The RCMP said in a statement officers were at the time executing a warrant "in relation to a drug investigation."
O'Brien, 51, was a decorated constable, who recently celebrated seven years of service, having become a Mountie in 2016. He leaves behind a wife and six children.
According to Jeanette Martin, who knew Rick's wife due to both of them owning businesses in Langley, B.C., the officer was originally from Ottawa and formerly an education assistant.
"His focus in life was always about people and making things better for everyone," she told CBC News.
Martin said that O'Brien worked closely with youth that had mental health struggles, along with a job as a school liaison officer.
"It was just a natural fit from going from the mental health work that that he did," she said. "And that's what his specialty was on the RCMP force was — his mental health work and de-escalating situations with people."
The superintendent in charge of O'Brien's RCMP detachment in Ridge Meadows, B.C., Wendy Mehat, said the constable loved visiting schools and supporting his detachment through drives and sporting events.
"His death is senseless and heartbreaking," Mehat said Friday. "The loss of Rick will be felt deeply, by his family, his colleagues, and the community."
'Fallen hero who tragically was murdered'
Condolences from a number of law enforcement officials and agencies have poured in on social media, including federal Justice Minister Arif Virani, the Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police and Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis.
O'Brien, who had a wife and six children, worked with at-risk youth before joining the RCMP and spent his entire policing career at the Ridge Meadows, B.C., detachment.
He was decorated for bravery in the rescue of victims during a home invasion within months of joining the RCMP in 2016.
A fundraising campaign organized by the National Police Federation Benevolent Foundation for O'Brien's family had raised more than $55,000 by Saturday afternoon, surpassing the foundation's original goal on the platform GoFundMe.
Foundation chair Kevin Halwa said police families often live with the constant fear their loved one may not return from work at the end of their shift.
"It's tough enough sending a loved one out the door to go serve Canadians in a dangerous occupation," Halwa, an RCMP staff sergeant in Sylvan Lake, Alta., told CBC News. "All police officers everywhere really understand that only by the grace of God are we able to to get home each night.
"Every single police officer on the globe understands what Const. O'Brien's family is going through."
Halwa said the B.C. constable should be remembered as a "fallen hero who tragically was murdered serving others" and who leaves behind a "lifetime of good" particularly through his work with young people.
"His work with youth was exceptional," Halwa said, "He always wanted to leave the next generation just a little bit better than the the last."
On-duty police deaths
O'Brien's death in Coquitlam comes less than a year after another officer, Const. Shaelyn Yang, was stabbed to death while working on a mental health and outreach team in Burnaby, B.C., a city just to Coquitlam's west.
A week earlier, Ontario Provincial Police Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala was killed about 45 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ont.
Those on-duty deaths sparked four of Canada's largest police associations to decry what they called "growing wave of violence against police and the communities they serve to protect."
Five police officers were killed in the line of duty in Canada last year.
Friday's incident has left one officer and the suspect in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The other officer was treated for minor injuries and released.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is investigating O'Brien's death and the injuries of the two other officers. The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is conducting a concurrent investigation of police actions.
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With files from Yasmin Gandham, Akshay Kulkarni, Patrick Foucault and The Canadian Press