Local police services 'devastated' by death of Ontario officer

Windsor-Essex police services say they are “devastated” and “deeply saddened” to learn an officer has died after a shooting in eastern Ontario.

OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller died and two others were injured after a shooting in the village of Bourget, just east of Ottawa early Thursday morning.OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller was killed in the line of duty Thursday morning. OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique says Mueller died after being shot in Bourget, Ont. (OPP/release)

“We are devastated to learn that one OPP officer has died and two others are injured following a shooting in eastern Ontario,” said Windsor police in a post on social media. “We send our deepest condolences to the fallen officer's loved ones and colleagues, and wish the two injured officers a quick recovery.”

LaSalle police also expressed condolences on social media.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of another police officer killed and two other officers injured in the line of duty,” said the post. “Our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Eric Mueller and wish a speedy recovery to his partners.”

OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique identified the fallen officer in a post on Thursday morning.

"It is with an extremely heavy heart that I regretfully advise that OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller has been killed in the line of duty," Carrique said on Twitter. "We anxiously await for further word on his fellow officers who are still at hospital. Our thoughts are with the officers, their families and colleagues."

“For us it’s devastating. Not only are they a brother or sister that we work alongside, but it’s also we think of the family impact and the immediate family to this member,” says Essex County OPP Const. Steve Duguay. “We’re just a big family across the province of Ontario.”

Even though Duguay didn’t know Mueller personally, he says the ripple effect is felt throughout OPP and other services across the country.

“It does a little bit more, because it was one of our own, but whether it was Toronto or South Simcoe police service, it’s still a brother and sisterhood and we look out and take care of each other,” says Duguay.

Mueller was the second provincial police officer to die on duty within the past year and 10th officer in Canada.Funeral for OPP Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala. (Source: OPP)

“It’s concerning,” says Duguay. “We’re out there trying to help the public and knowing some of our members don’t get to return home, it’s hard to process.”

Windsor police Honour Guard Sgt. Deler Bal says 10 officers is way too many.

“It’s very shocking and it’s a number that in our country that we’re not used to, and it’s not something anybody should get used to,” says Bal.

He says although the officer deaths are unbelievably tragic, each officer is trained well and it doesn’t impact an officer responding to a call.

“The front line patrol officer doesn’t have the luxury of not responding to a call for service,” says Bal. “That’s what they’ve sworn an oath to do and they do that well.”

He says police have support systems for dealing with injury and death.

“We’ve got in-house peer support networks for officers who have been there and done that,” says Bal.

Windsor police, OPP and LaSalle police all pay tribute to the other services who have lost an officer.

“What we do immediately is we lower the flag to half staff, we dawn our memorial pin and we let our community know of the loss,” says LaSalle police Const. Terry Seguin.

The Windsor-Essex police services all say they hope to send representatives to attend Meuller’s funeral.

Mueller is the 10th officer killed in Canada over the past year. Other officers killed were:

• Toronto Police Const. Andrew Hong, 48
• York Regional Police Const. Travis Gillespie, 38
• South Simcoe Police Service Const. Devon Northrup, 33
• South Simcoe Police Service Const. Morgan Russell, 54
• RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31
• OPP Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala, 28
• Edmonton Police Const. Travis Jordan, 35
• Edmonton Police Const. Brett Ryan, 30
• Surete du Quebec Sgt. Maureen Breau, 42