An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was killed during an operation in the eastern town of Bourget on Wednesday night.
Two other police officers on duty were shot and injured, but their lives are not in danger, the OPP said.
VAT News
According to initial information, authorities were called at around 2am to a shooting at an apartment building on Laval Street.
The three police officers were greeted with shots on site. The OPP said one person was arrested and said there was no danger to the public.
“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I announce that OPP Sergeant Eric Mueller has been killed in the line of duty,” OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique confirmed on Twitter.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also responded on the same social network, citing “devastating news.” “My thoughts are with his family and friends. Please join me in praying for his colleagues as we await news of their condition,” he wrote.
The death of OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller, who was senselessly killed in the line of duty, is devastating news. My thoughts are with his family and friends.
Please join me in praying for his colleagues as we await news of their condition. May God bless our heroes in uniform. https://t.co/WxoMPB69u7
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) May 11, 2023
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke of “terrible news from Bourget”. “I offer my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sergeant Eric Mueller in the military[OPP]who was killed on duty and I’m thinking of the two police officers who were injured,” he wrote.
Eric Mueller is the fifth Ontario police officer killed on duty since September and the tenth killed in Canada.
Listen to the Miscellaneous Facts section with Maxime Deland, broadcast live daily at 11:55am QUB radio:
September 12, 2022: Police officer Andrew Hong is shot dead in a Mississauga restaurant during his lunch break. He was 48 years old and had worked for the Toronto Police Service for 22 years.
October 11, 2022: South Simcoe Police Service constables Devon Northrup, 33, and Morgan Russell, 54, were responding to a disturbance call at an apartment building in Innisfil, north of Toronto, when they were greeted by fire. The two police officers were shot and died of their injuries in hospital.
December 27, 2022: OPP police officer Grzegorz Pierzchala was reportedly shot dead in 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 dead while responding to a call for a standoff at an apartment building in Bourget, east of Ottawa. Policeman Müller died in the hospital.