Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Suspect, Jongwon Ham, appears in court as he gets charged with first-degree murder in fatal stabbing of B.C. RCMP officer, Constable Shaelyn Yang. (Read More Here).
One day after an RCMP officer was stabbed to death on duty in Burnaby, B.C., a suspect has been charged with first-degree murder.
The accused, Jongwon Ham, made a court appearance Wednesday and was remanded in custody, the B.C. Prosecution Service confirmed in an email to CTV News.
Const. Shaelyn Yang, who worked in the Burnaby RCMP detachment’s mental health and homeless outreach team, died Tuesday following an altercation at Broadview Park. A suspect was also shot.
The area remained behind police tape Wednesday morning, with more than a dozen RCMP cruisers guarding the area.
There are two simultaneous investigations underway. The first is being conducted by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which has taken the lead on Yang’s shocking and sudden death.
Meanwhile, the province’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, is looking into the shooting of the suspect.
The IIO confirmed Wednesday the altercation was between Yang and a man who was living in a tent on the athletic field next to the Burnaby School District office.
“My understanding is that Const. Yang was asked to assist in notification to him that he was not permitted to be in the park,” Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) told a news conference.
“They were not there to remove him at that time, they were just there to notify him of that.”
Yang died of her injuries in hospital.
Ham — who was shot after allegedly attacking Yang — made a court appearance from hospital on the murder charge Wednesday morning, along with two previous assault charges that were still before the courts.
He was remanded in custody until Nov. 2. Delivery driver Lakhwinder Dhaliwal watched emergency responders as they tried to save Yang Tuesday. A nearby delivery took him back on Wednesday at almost the exact same time.
The 36-year-old shook his head as he recalled the scene.
“I saw police officers trying to revive her, giving her CPR. And four officers attending the stabber. They tried to revive her, but they couldn’t do it,” Dhaliwal said.
“(I’m) a little bit devastated, to be honest, since I learned that a female officer just got stabbed to death. It’s just terrible to see that. Because I’ve seen that guy before.”
The field where the incident happened was bordered by yellow police tape Wednesday. A tiny mottled yellow North Face tent sat in the middle of the field, which is adjacent to the parking lot next to Burnaby’s school board headquarters.
A series of numbered yellow evidence markers led from the tent to a spot a few metres away, where the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team had set up a canopy.
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