“Early this morning, STPS officers responded to a shooting complaint at a residence on Palm Street. Our frontline officers supported by other emergency responders worked to preserve the life of a male victim that had sustained life-threatening gunshot injuries. The male victim was taken to LHSC in London for care where he remains in critical condition. Our investigation soon led us to believe that this was in fact a targeted crime.
I recognize the public interest surrounding these matters, and as the new incoming Chief of Police, it is my commitment to ensure timely information is disseminated to the community as appropriate, having regard to everyone’s safety, including our police officers. This is a rare occurrence for our community. STPS members from various units have been activated since the time of this occurrence. We will not waver in our resolve to find those responsible for this violent crime.
Our police professionals are very well trained and consistently assess the many variables as they carry out their duties, especially under high-risk circumstances. The safety of our officers and members of the public is my top priority and will never be compromised when responding to occurrences of this nature. As always, there is a need for the community and the police to work together and despite the pace, veracity concerns and occasional technical challenges of social media and online discussion boards, we will always use caution to ensure we are disseminating important, and accurate information to the public.
The increase in gun violence in Ontario is alarming and I will continue to advocate and do all that is necessary to expose the inadequacies of legislation that compromises public safety and the health and safety of all STPS police officers that, without hesitation, serve our community every day.
There is a need to work together in times such as this. In the days ahead, we will undoubtedly call upon our community to support our efforts to ensure this crime is resolved successfully. We owe that to the victim and his family. We continue to thank our media partners and the public for their support in sharing factual information on this occurrence. We will continue to focus intently on our public safety priorities and bring those responsible for this crime to justice.”
Acting Chief of Police Marc Roskamp
