A memorial is set up for RCMP Const. Rick O’Brien, in front of the Ridge Meadows detachment in Maple Ridge, B.C., on Saturday, September 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
LANGLEY, B.C. – Hundreds of Mounties in their red serge marched through the streets of Langley B.C., in a procession to mark the regimental funeral for RCMP Const. Rick O’Brien.
O’Brien, who was 51, was killed Sept. 22 while he and other officers were executing a search warrant at a home in Coquitlam.
The hearse carrying O’Brien’s coffin was led by the RCMP Pipe Band and was followed a riderless horse with reversed high brown boots in its stirrups, to symbolize a fallen member.
O’Brien came to the Mounties late in life, joining in 2016 after a career of working with at-risk children, and was decorated early in his career for bravery after helping to rescue victims from a home invasion.
Supt. Wendy Mehat, the officer in charge at Ridge Meadows RCMP, where O’Brien spent all of his career, said after O’Brien was killed that he loved visiting schools and helping students, while calling his death senseless and heartbreaking.
A 25-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in O’Brien’s death.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2023.
