Homelessness and Mental Health Awareness Team member Shaelyn Yang checking the tent where the man who assaulted her was camping
A Canadian Police (RCMP) officer died on Tuesday after being stabbed while checking the tent of a man who was camping in a park in the Canadian city of Burnaby, in the province of British Columbia. At around 11:00 a.m. (local time), the officer, Shaelyn Yang, 31, and a worker from the Burnaby Parks Board arrived at Broadview Park, near the city of Vancouver, where a homeless man fatally stabbed the officer . , as reported by ‘The Globe and Mail’.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and took Yang to a nearby hospital. However, police were pronounced dead at the medical center, as detailed by Superintendent Graham De La Gorgendière. “His death while on duty and serving our community is senseless and tragic,” the superintendent said, assuring that working with mental health and homelessness ‘can be difficult’. Yang was part of the RCMP’s mental health and homelessness outreach team, CBC has learned.
The officer’s death comes three days after municipal elections in the area, which focused on public safety issues and the growing number of homeless people and tent camps in many communities. The New Democratic Social Democratic government of the province of British Columbia has come under pressure to address public safety issues from both municipal governments and the opposition Liberal Party.
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