Rare shooting leaves 3 officers dead, 2 hurt

MONCTON, New Brunswick – Three police officers were shot dead and two others injured in a rare case of gun violence in the east coast Canadian province of New Brunswick, officials said. Authorities were searching for a suspect.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Damien Theriault said police responded to a call at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday about an armed man in the north end of the city of Moncton. Three of the officers were killed and two sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were in stable condition.

“We are still actively looking for the shooter,” Theriault said. “He is believed to still be in the Pinehurst subdivision area of Moncton. We are urging people in that area to stay inside and lock their doors and for people to stay away from that area.”

Asked how he was dealing with his grief, Theriault said he personally knew the officers, before breaking down and excusing himself because he couldn’t complete his sentence.

Police said they were looking for 24-year-old Justin Bourque of Moncton – a city of about 69,000 people about 95 miles northeast of the capital of St. John, New Brunswick. The police force tweeted an image of a suspect wearing military camouflage and wielding two guns.

Danny Leblanc, 42, said he saw the shooter in the distance Wednesday evening, wearing a camouflage outfit and standing in the middle of the street with his gun pointed at police cars.

The construction worker said he believed it was an RCMP officer he was looking at until he heard a burst of automatic gunfire coming from the man’s gun.

He said he quickly retreated into his home and remained there with his family. At one point a neighbor posted on social media that their kitchen window was shattered by gunfire.

Leblanc said few people on his normally quiet street were sleeping as they awaited word at midnight on whether arrests had been made.

Such violence is rare in Canada, particularly on Canada’s East Coast.