Image: CFJC Today / File

By Canadian Press / CFJC Today staff

Officer Shooting

Man charged with first-degree murder in shooting death of RCMP officer

Sep 23, 2023 | 4:56 PM

VANCOUVER — A 25-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of an RCMP officer in Coquitlam.

Police allege Nicholas Bellemare fatally shot Ridge Meadows RCMP Const. Rick O’Brien on Friday during a drug investigation originating in Maple Ridge.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and the Coquitlam and Ridge Meadows RCMP detachments issued a joint statement saying Mounties were executing a warrant when an altercation began between Bellemare and police at around 10 a.m.

The incident resulted in O’Brien and another officer being shot, with a third officer also sustaining unspecified injuries. O’Brien died at the scene.

Bellemare, who police say was also shot and wounded in the altercation, has been charged with one count each of first-degree murder and attempted murder with a firearm.

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O’Brien’s death in Coquitlam comes less than a year after another RCMP officer, Const. Shaelyn Yang, was stabbed to death while accompanying a Burnaby city worker to a campsite used by homeless residents.