A memorial for officer Rick O’Brien is set up in front of the Ridge Meadows detachment in Maple Ridge, B.C., on Sept. 23. O'Brien was shot and killed while executing a warrant in Coquitlam the day before.Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press
Rick O’Brien knew since high school that he wanted to be a police officer but the road to getting there wasn’t obvious.
At age 20, he was living with his parents, working in a Boston Pizza and had his first child. After an argument, he left home and ended up sleeping in his car for a few months.
“Policing was not even on my radar anymore,” he recalled during an online summit held in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The young man could not know then that, decades later, he would leave an indelible mark on his community in British Columbia and help save lives before losing his own while wearing the uniform.
RCMP Constable O’Brien, 51, was killed Friday in Coquitlam, B.C., when executing a warrant in relation to a drug investigation. Two other officers were wounded during the incident.
Police allege Nicholas Bellemare, 25, fatally shot the officer. The suspect, who was also shot and seriously injured, was charged Saturday with one count of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder with a firearm.
Man charged with first-degree murder in death of B.C. RCMP officer
A decorated member of the RCMP, Constable O’Brien achieved his dream of becoming a police officer later in life with the support of his family after going through bouts of depression and homelessness.
He told his story during a Gratitude and Appreciation Summit held online in 2020. A recording of the event was shared with The Globe and Mail.
In the years after leaving his parents’ home, Constable O’Brien said he worked other jobs that left him unfulfilled. He tried to get into the Toronto Police Service but failed the tests. When his first marriage also failed, he struggled with depression again because his three children “were not in my life as much as I wanted them to be,” he said.
But he pulled himself together, built stronger relationships with his kids, and met his future wife, Nicole Longacre – who had three children of her own.
“It was a very, very chaotic home,” he said. “But we made it work.”
At the time, he was working six days a week as an education assistant and after-school support worker in Chilliwack and Surrey. He started to feel the itch again to find a more fulfilling and better-paid career.
“So, after long discussions with my wife now and some RCMP members, I decided that I was going to put my hat into the ring of policing again,” he said. Fourteen months later, he got in.
“I did my training and struggled big time with it,” he said, but never looked back.
In 2017, only a few months after joining the RCMP, Constable O’Brien was among a team of Mounties from the Ridge Meadows Detachment, who each received an award of valour after they “placed themselves at substantial risk to enter a residence of an armed home invasion in progress to rescue the hostages and apprehend the suspects.” It is B.C.’s highest award for a police officer.
Constable O’Brien also helped his community in smaller ways. In a post shared on social media, Brittni Drummond said she and her three-year-old daughter, Rikki, crossed his path two weeks ago.
“He was cracking jokes and chatting with every neighbour on the street,” Ms. Drummond wrote. “He was very funny and kind.”
Constable O’Brien’s is the 11th police officer in Canada killed in the line of duty since last September.
The latest tragedy has reverberated with law-enforcement officials across the country.
“By all accounts, Rick was one heck of a member and one heck of a person,” said Kevin Halwa, chair of the National Police Federation Benevolent Foundation. “Any time one of our members falls at the hand of criminal activity, it’s a sad day for all of us.”
The foundation set up a GoFundMe campaign for Constable O’Brien’s family, as they do any time an officer is killed on the line of duty, Mr. Halwa said. As of Sunday evening, the campaign had raised more than $97,000 since its launch, way beyond its original goal of $50,000.
“The generosity of Canadians never ceases to amaze me,” Mr. Halwa said. He acknowledged that the families of RCMP officers have access to generous benefits when a loved one dies in the line of duty but said no amount of money could replace their loss.
Jeanette Martin, who organized the 2020 Summit and invited Constable O’Brien to be a speaker, described him as a goofball with a great sense of humour who always made time for his family.
“This man, his children, this family, was the definition of love,” she said.
With a report from The Canadian Press