Community members filled Innisfil Community Church last night to honour the two South Simcoe police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty after responding to a call for a "disturbance" at a Somers Boulevard home in Alcona on Tuesday night.
The candlelight vigil to support the officers — Const. Morgan Russell, 54, and Const. Devon Northrup, 33 — had more than 100 people in attendance, including Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard, Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin, Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer, and members of Innisfil Fire.
The officers responded to the call around 8 p.m., Tuesday. After an "exchange of gunfire" inside the home with a 23-year-old man, the wounded officers were rushed to a hospital by emergency run where one of them died. The second officer was airlifted to a Toronto trauma centre and succumbed to his injuries early Wednesday morning. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sombre evening began with a moment of silence for Russell and Northrup before pastor Steve Bradley spoke of the sacrifice made by first-responders.
“Every day, we have men and women go out in uniform,” he said. “No matter what religion, no matter your political affiliation, no matter if you support them or not, when you call them, they show up. They put their lives on the line, day in and day out.”
With the onlooking crowd full of former police officers, loved ones of emergency service workers, and neighbours who came out to pay their respects, resident Kim Robbins, who is the mother of a police officer, and Tanya Firth, whose partner is a police officer, spoke at the vigil.
“I don’t know the words to say to these officers’ moms, but I know my heart has been hurting for you all day today,” Robbins said. “No mother expects to bury their son.”
“Being a wife of an RCMP member, I’ve learned to know that the police force isn’t just a group of people — they’re family,” said Firth. “As a community member, to all the community members out there, I feel for them. But just know you have a community you can turn to.”
The leadership in attendance emphasized supporting the families impacted, South Simcoe police and the community as a whole as being key to the healing process.
“I want you to know that acting chief (John) Van Dyke has assured us the families are getting all the support that they need,” said Dollin. “The (police services) board will make sure they get all the support that they need and all of the help that they need, not just tomorrow or next week, but for as long as they need us.”
“This is a tragic time,” Keffer said. “Our communities are hurting. We’ll always remember this; it will always be in our hearts. But we will move past this. The South Simcoe Police Service is so important to our communities and it’s a wake-up call today, the job they do, how they are there for each and every one of us. I want to thank all of our first-responders for what they do for our communities.”
“Today is a sad day, but it’s also a reminder of the inherent risks our first-responders take every single day and night to protect us within our communities,” Brassard said. “These are going to be dark days, these are going to be hard days, hard for the families, hard for the South Simcoe police family, hard for our firefighters and EMS, and everyone whose been impacted by this terrible tragedy. Those families, those officers and those first-responders will need our community.”
Afterwards, members of the community walked along Innisfil Beach where lights were lit up blue in honour of the slain officers.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support Const. Russell and Const. Northrup’s families. The link can be found here.
