:format(webp)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2023/03/16/two-police-officers-killed-in-edmonton-force-says/_main.jpg "Edmonton police to address media after two officers killed responding to a call")
EDMONTON—Two Edmonton police officers have been killed while responding to a call, the city’s force says.
Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee and other dignitaries will address reporters after two police officers were killed while responding to a call early Thursday morning.
“The Edmonton Police Service is mourning the loss of two of its patrol officers who were killed in the Line of Duty, while responding to a call earlier today,” the Edmonton Police Service said in a statement Thursday morning.
Local residents say they saw significant police activity overnight, including the arrival of a few dozen officers in Inglewood, a neighbourhood of three-storey walk-ups in the city’s northeast, in the early hours Thursday. The police presence continued as the sun rose and, by 9 a.m., officers were still stringing up police tape as they cordoned off several areas, police vehicles, including two black trucks, lined the streets.
It’s not yet clear how the deaths occurred, but Chief Dale McFee and others were expected to address media at 10 a.m. local time.
In the meantime, the incident had shaken the neighbourhood. One local resident said he’d seen about a dozen officers bolting from an apartment complex near his own around 3 a.m. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “It’s not been a very good night.”
Tina Nguyen, owner of a nearby beauty studio, said she noticed police sirens and lights last night around 1 a.m. She thought nothing of it until she woke up and heard two police had been killed.
She said she was saddened to hear of the deaths and it makes her worry for her family’s safety. She lives about one block from where police were stationed Thursday morning.
“I don’t go out, but my kids go to school. We are worried,” she said. “I don’t know what to do now.”
Police officers, associations and forces were offering their condolences in the wake of the news.
“No words can describe what our members and their families are feeling at this moment,” tweeted Staff Sgt. Michael Elliott, the former president of the Edmonton Police Association. “Our entire service and community are mourning and I’m devastated.”
More to come.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)