Community leaders in New Brunswick are thanking the public for their support after the shooting deaths of three Mounties earlier this month.
In a posted to the RCMP;s website on Saturday, Roger Brown, the assistant commissioner in N.B., expressed his gratitude for the "overwhelming display of sympathy and compassion" the public has shown the force during their "darkest hours."
"Walking in front of the detachment and seeing it transformed into a community memorial to our three fallen members left me overwhelmed," Brown said. "While it’s usually our job to look after the community, this time the community looked after us."
Constables Fabrice Georges Gevaudan, Dave Joseph Ross and Douglas James Larche were killed in the line of duty on June 4 when a heavily-armed gunmen went on a shooting rampage in north Moncton. Two other officers, Constables Darlene Goguen and Eric Stephanie J. Dubois, also suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The shootings prompted a massive manhunt and lockdown in Moncton. It ended approximately 30 hours later after a 24-year-old Moncton man was arrested. Justin Bourque has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and two counts of attempted murder.
In a posted to the City of Moncton's Facebook page on Saturday, Mayor George LeBlanc thanked residents for "maintaining calm and order" as police investigated the shooting.
"You may never know how your actions helped, but be assured they did," he wrote. "As we struggle to understand how and why this could have happened in our community, we must nevertheless find calm, peace and security in our lives, we must be resilient as a community and, in doing this we honour the memories of Doug, Dave and Fabrice."
LeBlanc said a permanent memorial to honour the three Mounties is being planned so that "their sacrifice will forever be remembered."
He also extended his gratitude to the communities surrounding Moncton, and to some of the senior members of the RCMP.
"An extraordinary thank you goes to the RCMP 'J' division Commanding Officer Roger Brown and Superintendent Marlene Snowman for your outstanding leadership and courage that helped guide and protect us."
Snowman, who is the superintendent for the Codiac RCMP detachment, also issued her own message on Saturday.
"The words written here will never seem to be enough, but must be expressed, to say thank you to the community that we call home," she wrote in a posted to the RCMP website on Saturday.
"In times of grief and tragedy, it is our human spirit; our resilience; the connections that we have with our colleagues; our families and loved ones; and our community that help get us through tough times."
Snowman thanked the citizens of Moncton for the gifts of food, flowers, cards, drawings and poems left at a makeshift memorial in front of the Codiac detachment police station. Among those gifts were three maple tree saplings, which Snowman said will be planted at the homes of the fallen officers.
The other gifts will be collected and sorted through on Sunday, when the RCMP is expected to take down the memorial.
Saint John considers tribute
Meanwhile, the hometown of Const. Douglas James Larche is considering renaming one of its streets as a tribute to the fallen officer.
City councillors in Saint John, N.B., are expected to discuss the idea near the end of the month. The 12-year RCMP veteran and married father of three was originally from the port city.
"(He's) a city boy that was once here and we've got to remember the great people who are from this city," Coun. Bill Farren told CTV Atlantic on Saturday.
Gerald Green, a member of the Saint John fire department, said such a tribute would be only appropriate for a hero.
"I think that would be a fitting tribute to a person that gave his life (for) public safety," he told CTV Atlantic on Saturday.
City council hopes to have a street renamed in honour of Larche in the next couple of weeks.
With a report from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar
