As 2022 draws to a close, we’re looking back at the top 10 Burnaby news stories of the year.
Yesterday, we brought you a reminder of November’s municipal election, which saw the victory of Burnaby’s first Indigenous elected official.
Today, we recap the year’s No. 1 story, the tragic line-of-duty death of Burnaby Mountie Const. Shaelyn Yang.
A fatal call
Shortly after 11 a.m. on Oct. 18, emergency crews descended on Broadview Park near the Burnaby-Vancouver border.
It would take some time for details to be made public, but what drew the massive police response was the fatal stabbing of one of their own.
Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, had accompanied a City of Burnaby parks employee to the park that morning to tell a man who had been staying in a tent there to move along.
But an “altercation” took place, according to police.
Yang was fatally stabbed, and the man was shot but survived his injuries.
The news rocked the Burnaby RCMP detachment and Lower Mainland policing community and made headlines across the country.
‘Tragic loss’
Condolences poured in from across the country, and memorials grew both at the Burnaby RCMP office and at Broadview Park.
“Const. Yang 66231, I hope you heard us coming. I drove as fast and as hard as I could. You were not alone. I'm sorry I didn't make it in time,” read one card attached to a bouquet of flowers along with Vancouver Police Department shoulder flash.
In statements from police and from Yang’s family and friends, a picture emerged of a caring young woman who was inspired to become a Mountie after volunteering with RCMP victims services.
At the time she was killed, Yang was a member of Burnaby RCMP’s mental health and homeless outreach team.
“We’re all struggling to come to terms with this tragic loss,” said Chief Supt. Graham de la Gorgendiere, the officer in charge of the Burnaby RCMP detachment.
Yang’s death sparked two parallel investigations, one by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and one by the province’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office.
Earlier this month, the IIO cleared Yang of wrongdoing in the shooting.
“The chief civilian director has reviewed the available evidence, including independent witness statements and video footage, and determined that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer has committed an offence,” read an IIO statement.
Jongwon Ham, 37, who survived gunshot-related injuries in the incident, has been charged with first-degree murder in Yang’s death and remains in custody.
Regimental funeral
On Nov. 2, Yang, a Richmond resident, was honoured at a regimental funeral.
Thousands of emergency responders from B.C., Canada and Washington State marched through Richmond on en route to the Olympic Oval.
“Shae faced everything in life with a laugh, a smile and an open heart, and the world was all brighter for it. And, yes, it feels colder now without her here,” said Ash Tan, Yang’s cousin, to the crowd.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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