Police report details RCMP Constable Shaelyn Yang’s deadly interaction with homeless man
Burnaby RCMP constable. Shaelyn Yang was trying to save the life of a homeless man on the morning of October 18 when she was fatally stabbed, according to a police report obtained by Global News investigative reporter Sam Cooper.
The report, which details the interaction between the young constable and the suspect accused of killing her, says Yang accompanied a Burnaby city parks officer as he prepared to serve an eviction notice to a man who occupied a tent in a local park. for several months.
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Yang, a member of the Burnaby RCMP Mental Health and Homelessness Outreach Team, approached the tent and called, but received no response.
She then observed a man inside, his eyes closed.
“Officer Yang saw the man unresponsive in the tent,” Cooper said in an interview on Saturday. « According to this report, she thought he might overdose or [had] already overdosed.
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The report says Yang announced she was going to administer naloxone when the man responded, came out of the tent and threatened the parks officer.
He and Yang then backed off and used their phones and radios to call for help.
« According to the report, the man became angry, charged…then stabbed Officer Yang in the chest, » Cooper said.
« A struggle ensued, both officers attempted to restrain the man, then the report (states) the parks officer could not see and heard two shots fired. »
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British Columbia police watchdog the Office of Independent Investigations confirms that Yang shot the suspect with his service weapon, but it is unclear how many shots were fired.
The man, according to the report, said he had been shot and asked to be released. A second parks officer arrived and also began to help, followed by a passerby who stopped his vehicle to help. Yang lost consciousness, according to the report, and despite a desperate effort to revive her, she died.
The suspect, Jongwon Ham, 37, was hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
« This is new information that indicates Officer Yang was trying to save a life and then tragedy ensues, » Cooper said.
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Ham was once an accomplished actor and Emmy-winning filmmaker with roots in Toronto.
Global News spoke to a close friend of Ham who said he was devastated to learn of the murder allegations. The friend said Ham was falsely accused of sexual assault in Toronto almost 10 years ago and the tension of the investigation sent him to a dark place. Ham had served several stints in jail in Vancouver before being charged with the first degree murder of Const. Yang.
In February 2021, he was arrested and charged with assaulting and resisting an officer, after Vancouver police said a suspect swore racial slurs at a person and gave him kicked in the face in Chinatown.
In March, Ham was arrested and charged again with assault after he allegedly made anti-Muslim comments and attacked a security guard at the Harbor Center food court.
Ham remains in custody and is due in Vancouver Provincial Court on November 2 for murder.
— With files by Simon Little and Rumina Daya
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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