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3 OPP officers shot

God dammit, not again… May the fallen member rest in peace, and I hope their colleagues make a fast and full recovery.
 
The OPP commissioner has named OPP Sergeant Eric Mueller as the fallen officer.

EDIT: I won’t go with everything I’m hearing, but sounds like all three were Embrun detachment and responding to a report of gunshots. This was likely everyone that detachment had on overnight, with few other OPP in neighbouring detachments (Rockland closest, then Alfred and Winchester), and none of them close.

Ottawa Police responded, but would have been thin for bodies at that hour. Spitballing it, I’d say probably 25, 30 minutes driving hard lights and sirens from downtown Ottawa. A couple of Orleans members might have made it faster. This would have been a long and scary response for anyone coming into an unfamiliar rural area in the earliest hours of the morning.

My heart’s breaking for Sgt Mueller’s young family and for his colleagues.
 
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The OPP commissioner has named OPP Sergeant Eric Mueller as the fallen officer.

EDIT: I won’t go with everything I’m hearing, but sounds like all three were Embrun detachment and responding to a report of gunshots. This was likely everyone that detachment had on overnight, with few other OPP in neighbouring detachments (Rockland closest, then Alfred and Winchester), and none of them close.

Ottawa Police responded, but would have been thin for bodies at that hour. Spitballing it, I’d say probably 25, 30 minutes driving hard lights and sirens from downtown Ottawa. A couple of Orleans members might have made it faster. This would have been a long and scary response for anyone coming into an unfamiliar rural area in the earliest hours of the morning.

My heart’s breaking for Sgt Mueller’s young family and for his colleagues.
Ya, Rockland is a sub (it's all Russell County Detachment). Knowing the OPP, I'm really surprised there was a Sgt. working. It's about 10 kliks away from the Ottaws border but I doubt they would have much coverage out near the rural fringes overnight.

I'm not hearing anything but it sure sounds to me like an ambush.

The Ontario Police memorial was literally this past Sunday…
Where they added four names plus one historic. 277 before today.
 
Details emerged about this shooting which OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique initially said the officers were ambushed and shot.

Bellefeuille’s lawyers firmly believe the OPP commissioner’s comments may taint the potential jury pool and thwart the accused killer’s right to a fair trial. “We trust that the public — including potential jurors — will remain open to the possibility of an alternate account of events,” the lawyers said in a statement. Bellefeuille neither requested nor expected the police to show up at his home in the middle of the night, his lawyers said. He had worked a full day in Orléans doing drywall and painting, and had just gone to bed.

Rifle seized at scene of Sgt. Eric Mueller’s killing was lawfully owned, says accused’s lawyer

 
Details emerged about this shooting which OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique initially said the officers were ambushed and shot.



Rifle seized at scene of Sgt. Eric Mueller’s killing was lawfully owned, says accused’s lawyer

Alternate universe maybe?
I don’t think anyone is going to believe that someone could target three OPP officers and not know they were LEO’s.

Years ago in Calgary I dialed 911 as Inwas woken up by noises and there were some folks outside my house, and three standing outside my patio door.
My wife (at the time now Ex) and son were out of town, and I simply went upstairs with my MP-5, dialed 911 and waited.
When you tell 911 you are armed and secure upstairs - well, I could hear the cruisers responding not just due to sirens, but also the engines being pushed pretty solidly.
Remaining on 911 and when people entered the home, I confirmed that no CPS were in the house.
Now I did see flashlights, so I rolled out slightly and saw a stripe on the pants through the sights on the MP-5, and decided to place the safety back on and call down to them. Turns out 911 wasn’t aware that the officers had entered the patio door (they found partially ajar due to being forced minutes earlier).

One can never discharge a firearm without identifying the target. The fact this guy engaged three LEO’s one fatally, means he aimed very clearly at them and I don’t accept he couldn’t have known they were LEO’s.


In short fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
I do feel bad for his dog though.
 
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The OPP have body cams now. Unlike lawyers and the accused (and, possibly, the OPP Commish) they get the facts straight and can't lie.

Did the OPP officers announce themselves? Did the accused issue a challenge/warning before firing? The cameras should be abe to clear that up.
 
The OPP have body cams now. Unlike lawyers and the accused (and, possibly, the OPP Commish) they get the facts straight and can't lie.

Did the OPP officers announce themselves? Did the accused issue a challenge/warning before firing? The cameras should be abe to clear that up.
You might be right, but it was announced in 2021 as a two-year rollout. I believe the member shot in Hagarsville was, serendipitously, posted to a test detachment.

While I can understand the Commissioner's emotion, he's lost two members in quick succession, he has introduced a complication into any future trial. Perhaps not fatal, but something the Crown will have to deal with.
 
Alternate universe maybe?
I don’t think anyone is going to believe that someone could target three OPP officers and not know they were LEO’s.

I'm not so sure. Breonna Taylor's boyfriend was cleared of his attempted murder charge after thinking the police were intruders. A veteran Dallas police officer shot his own son a few years back mistaking him for an intruder.

If he has no criminal record and legally owned the firearm and was just going to bed after work it's odd that he would decide to shoot 3 OPP officers out of the blue.
This lawyer is playing the same games that they are accusing the commissioner of doing. This is their attempt at creating an atmosphere that the accused can’t get a fair trial.
Sounds like that's exactly what they're doing. Does he have a point though?
 
Definitely gonna have to wait and see what the evidence shows in order to build anything close to a clear picture on this one.

Something led to police being called there, and either entering or at least approaching the home. Something led to the accused accessing a firearm. Something led to the accused shooting at three police officers, killing one. 911 recordings, police radio transmission recordings, ballistics analysis, the accused’s statement (if he provided one), what the officers saw and heard… This will be a complex and challenging puzzle for SIU to piece together.

The legal threshold to argue a lawful use of force when discharging a firearm at police is going to be very, very high.

John Hale is an experienced criminal defence lawyer. He’s not likely to say anything publicly without giving it considerable thought.

The next two things to watch for will be whether the accused succesfully gets bail, and whether further charges are laid that would allow inferences to be made about certain things such as the weapon involved, etc.
 
Sounds like that's exactly what they're doing. Does he have a point though?
He does. One of these days it will be successful. But in Canada it’s still very iffy to shoot intruders no matter the circumstances.

I worked a triple gang related break-in murder about a decade ago where the lawyer almost did the exact same argument regarding the murders being self defence and that the news releases of the murder had tainted the jury pool.

It wasn’t successful then- and it hasn’t been successful yet that I’ve seen anyways - but it’s been pretty close a few times. It will eventually be the case that the society demand for a quick comment by police will have them say too much and they will be penalized in some similar way.
 
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