Police, public pay respects to OPP officer killed in taking pictures east of Ottawa | CBC Information

Cops and group members gathered in Clarence-Rockland, Ont., on Saturday to pay their respects to Sgt. Eric Mueller, who was fatally shot two days earlier whereas responding to a disturbance.

Simply after 2 a.m. Thursday, Mueller and two different officers have been known as to a house on Laval Road within the close by village of Bourget after somebody reported listening to a gunshot, Ontario Provincial Police mentioned.

Inside minutes of arriving, Mueller and two of his detachment colleagues have been shot by somebody on the house, OPP mentioned. They have been taken to hospital in Ottawa, the place Mueller died. 

Alain Bellefeuille, 39, has since been charged with one rely of first-degree homicide and two counts of tried homicide.

Books of condolences have been obtainable to signal Saturday afternoon in each Bourget and at metropolis corridor in Clarence-Rockland, the place Mueller lived.

A procession of first responders was additionally escorting Mueller’s physique Saturday afternoon from The Ottawa Hospital alongside Freeway 417 to the Brunet Funeral Residence in Clarence-Rockland. 

Police invited members of the general public to observe the procession from one of many many overpasses alongside the freeway or alongside the shoulder of a portion of Freeway 17. 

Officers additionally lined the road in entrance of the funeral house Saturday as they waited for the procession to reach.

‘I’ve gone by way of this identical scenario’

Roger and Carol Benoit have been among the many first individuals to signal the e-book in Clarence-Rockland.

A retired RCMP officer and with a son within the Ottawa Police Service, Roger Benoit mentioned he felt “very strongly” about coming to pay his respects. 

“I can relate as a result of I’ve gone by way of this identical scenario,” he mentioned, including his coronary heart goes out to Mueller’s household. 

Carol Benoit mentioned when her husband was working night time shifts as an officer, she wouldn’t be capable of go to sleep till he received again house. 

“The worry of not listening to these footsteps that early within the morning … the worry that goes by way of you, you’ll be able to’t think about,” she mentioned.

A police funeral shall be held for Mueller at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Could 18, police mentioned. Extra particulars shall be introduced as soon as they’ve been finalized.