TORONTO – An Ontario Provincial Police officer died and two others were injured in a shooting in the village of Bourget, in the municipality of Clarence-Rockland, east of Ottawa. One person has been taken into custody by OPP.

According to OPP, around 2 in the morning the agents were called to an argument in a house in Laval Street where someone reported hearing a shot. Upon their arrival, the agents were hit by a barrage of gunshots: the three agents were transported to the Ottawa hospital and for one of them there was nothing to do: his name is Eric Mueller (in the photo, from Twitter – @OPPAssociation), OPP team leader in service since 2007, identified by Commissioner Thomas Carrique who then gave the tragic news on Twitter: “It is with an extremely heavy heart that I regretfully advise that OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller has been killed in the line of duty. 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”, Carrique wrote.

For the residents of Bourget, a community of 1,200 people, today was a dramatic awakening: “It has always been a quiet village – said Madison Bach, a resident of Bourget -, a safe community, with many schools… now, people like me who have children will be much more concerned”.

The mayor of Clarence-Rockland, Mario Zanth, said he was “saddened and dismayed” by what happened and decided to fly the flags of the Council at half-mast. “There are no words that can express the pain the residents of Clarence-Rockland are feeling at this time. I offer my deepest condolences to the family and fellow officers” added Zanth.

Unanimous condolences from politicians: both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the leader of the conservative opposition Pierre Poilievre and the NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called the news “tragic”, expressing their deepest condolences to the family and the OPP.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford tweeted that “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 fellow officers as we await word on their condition. May God bless our heroes in uniform”.

Mueller’s death is only the latest in a long series of deaths that have hit the police force in Ontario in recent months: Andrew Hong of the Toronto Police, shot dead on September 12, 2022 in a Tim Hortons in Mississauga; Devon Northrup and Morgan Russell, South Simcoe agents, shot dead while responding to a call from a home in Innisfil on 11 October 2022; Grzegorz Pierzchala of the OPP, killed on December 27, 2022 while rescuing a broken down vehicle near Hagersville, Ontario.