{"id":176121,"date":"2018-08-11T00:18:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-11T04:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=176121"},"modified":"2018-08-11T00:18:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T04:18:00","slug":"unflinching-police-fredericton-no-doubt-saved-lives-says-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/11\/unflinching-police-fredericton-no-doubt-saved-lives-says-pm\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Unflinching’ police in Fredericton ‘no doubt saved lives,’ says PM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cThey were unflinching in their duty,\u201d Trudeau said in a statement of the two officers who were killed at the scene. (File photo<\/a>: Justin Trudeau\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 Officers who rushed to the scene of a deadly shooting in Fredericton likely saved the lives of others, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday as Canadians reeled from news of early-morning gunfire that claimed the lives of four people, including two members of the local police force.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were unflinching in their duty,\u201d Trudeau said in a statement of the two officers who were killed at the scene. Their sacrifice \u201cno doubt saved lives and prevented even greater tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who held a hastily assembled news conference in Sarnia, Ont., said it was too early to say exactly what happened \u2014 or what motives were behind the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facts and the details are not known,\u201d Goodale said, calling the investigation into the incident \u201craw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do know is that four Canadians are dead, and that is a huge tragedy for the whole country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier Friday, Trudeau \u2014 who was scheduled to be in Toronto later in the day at an event to honour the two victims of a shooting in that city just last month \u2014 used Twitter to lead a cascade of condolences from political quarters both inside\u00a0Canada\u00a0and beyond as news of the shooting sank in.<\/p>\n

Police said one person was custody and was being treated for serious injuries. After warning residents to remain in their homes with the doors locked, by about mid-morning they were able to declare that there was no longer any public threat.<\/p>\n

An official update on the situation was scheduled for later Friday.<\/p>\n

Goodale said the RCMP are standing at the ready should the Fredericton police need any more additional help.<\/p>\n

New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant also cited the brave work of first responders in a statement of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of all New Brunswickers, I offer my condolences, thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families,\u201d Gallant tweeted. \u201cDuring this difficult time, our thoughts are also with the courageous women and men on the front lines working to keep us safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief who just last month was tapped to serve as Trudeau’s minister of border security and organized crime reduction, offered comfort directly to Fredericton’s police chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to extend my heartfelt condolences to all the victims,\u201d he tweeted, \u201cincluding Chief Leanne Fitch on the tragic death of two of her officers in the service of their community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer offered prayers for the families of the officers and everyone impacted, while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh expressed solidarity with first responders. Alberta United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney also joined the online chorus, citing the perils faced daily by law enforcement officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all shocked and saddened to learn this morning of the ongoing tragic incident in Fredericton,\u201d Kenney said, calling it a \u201creminder of the risks our brave men and women in uniform are willing to take every day to keep us safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to\u00a0Canada, said she was \u201cshocked and troubled\u201d to learn of the tragedy.<\/p>\n

Gun violence has been a hot topic among politicians and the Canadian public this summer, particularly after several high-profile shootings in the city of Toronto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 Officers who rushed to the scene of a deadly shooting in Fredericton likely saved the lives of others, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":176122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-mia-rabson","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}