A procession to honour slain RCMP officer Const. Shaelyn Yang was held in Vancouver and Burnaby on Thursday.
Yang was fatally stabbed in the line of duty on Tuesday.
Her body was transported from Vancouver General Hospital and was escorted by her closest colleagues to Burnaby Hospital.
Thousands of first responders lined the route between the two hospitals. They stood solemnly outside their vehicles, which had the lights on.
Jongwon Ham, 37, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death, the B.C. Prosecution Service said.
Ham technically made his first court appearance Wednesday, though was not there in person as he remains in Royal Columbian Hospital. He was remanded in custody until Nov. 2. No other details were released.
Global News has learned Ham has a history of being arrested and charged with assault.
He was charged in February 2021 with assault and resisting a police officer in connection with an incident in Vancouver. He was released on court-ordered conditions.
Following his release from that charge, he was arrested and charged again in March 2022 with allegedly assaulting a security guard at the food court in Vancouver’s Harbour Centre.
He was released again, and three warrants have been issued for his arrest since last month alone — the most recent of them issued on Monday.
Ron MacDonald, the chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., said Wednesday that Yang was able to discharge her firearm and shoot Ham, but it is not known how many times she fired or when she discharged her weapon — before or after she was stabbed.
“We’ve been able to gather video evidence of the incident that shows quite a bit of it, in fact all of the incident,” he said. “It’s at some distance, but it provides us with excellent information.”
More to come…