RCMP officer Rick O'Brien dead, 2 officers injured in Coquitlam shooting

RCMP Const. Rick O'Brien was shot and killed and two officers were injured, while executing a search warrant in Coquitlam, about 30 kilometres east of Vancouver, on Friday morning.

O'Brien, 51, was a decorated constable from the Ridge Meadows detachment and he just recently celebrated seven years of service. He leaves behind a wife and children.

"This is an extremely difficult and tragic day," Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, the Commanding Officer of the B.C. RCMP, said at a news conference. 

"Const. O'Brien led by example. He had a great sense of humour, he was well respected by his peers, and he was loved in his community," McDonald said.

O'Brien succumbed to his injuries at the scene after receiving treatment from first responders, McDonald said. 

One officer and the suspect remain in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The other officer was treated for minor injuries and released. 

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The Independent Homicide Investigations Team is investigating the officer's death and the injuries of the two other officers. The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is conducting a concurrent investigation of police actions. 

The IIO said Ridge Meadows RCMP were executing a search warrant at a home near Pinetree Way and Glen Drive in the Vancouver suburb when the incident occurred.

"While there, the attending officers became engaged in an altercation with a man which resulted in multiple officers being injured and the man being shot," the release stated.

A large deployment of emergency responders, including police in tactical gear, were seen in the 2900-block of Glen Drive at around 11 a.m. PT.

Eyewitness Carley Hodges said when police began arriving at the scene she saw one officer who was limping and bleeding from his leg.

"He had a tourniquet on. Someone was taken away in an ambulance and they were doing chest compressions. And someone in handcuffs in his underwear was taken away. And then [there were] cops coming with riot shields, battering rams and rifles," said Hodges.

McDonald said the RCMP had sent heartfelt condolences to O'Brien's family.