RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang.HO/The Canadian Press
Mounties are mourning one of their own after an RCMP officer was fatally stabbed at a homeless campsite in Burnaby, B.C.
Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said the death Tuesday of Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, will be felt by her colleagues who say goodbye to their loved ones each day when they go to work to serve their communities.
“As the commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, I can tell you that an on-duty death is the most difficult and heart-wrenching incident we deal with as an organization,” McDonald said.
Yang was partnered with a city employee when an altercation broke out at a campsite and she was stabbed, police said.
A male suspect, who was shot and seriously injured, was being treated in hospital.
Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said the city worker who was with Yang was “deeply shaken” and the city is offering support to affected staff.
Homicide detectives are investigating the stabbing, while the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., which looks into any incidents of serious harm or death involving police, is also reviewing what happened.
A statement from the National Police Federation says Yang’s homicide marks the fifth on-duty death of a police officer in Canada in as many weeks, adding “no one should fear their next shift could be their last, and no colleague should have to bear the unfathomable loss of a fallen peer.”
Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters Wednesday that he would be heading to the funeral on Thursday for two Ontario police officers killed in a shooting in Innisfil this week.
He recently attended the funeral of a fallen police officer in Toronto, he said, and would be reaching out to law enforcement in British Columbia now too.
“It has been a really difficult period, there’s no doubt about that. You know, there have been a number of losses on the front line, and I’ve been grieving with the community,” Mendicino said.
The statement from the police federation called the deadly attack “an unfortunate but stark reminder that police officers face risk every time they show up for work.”
It said that reality is “becoming all too common” and called October a “devastating month” for all Canadian police officers and their families.
A procession of police vehicles drove slowly through Metro Vancouver on Tuesday night to honour Yang.