News
Funeral to be held today for two officers killed last week in Innisfil shooting

Oct. 20, 2022, Barrie, Ont. – A private funeral will be held today for two police officers killed in a shooting in Innisfil, Ont., last week.

Const. Morgan Russell, 54, and Const. Devon Northrup, 33, of the South Simcoe Police Service died in hospital after responding to a call about a disturbance at a home north of Toronto on Oct. 11.

The Special Investigations Unit, which is investigating the shooting, has said the two officers did not draw their firearms before they were shot by a 22-year-old man at the home.

The South Simcoe Police Service says the funeral – which is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Barrie, Ont. – will be attended by families of the officers, members of the force, representatives from other police services, emergency services personnel and officials.

Members of the public can watch the service in person at the Innisfil Community Church and the St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford, Ont., or through a link on the police force’s website.

The public can also observe the procession as it travels through Barrie starting after 9 a.m. from the Adams Funeral Home and Cremation Services to the Steckley-Gooderham Funeral Home and onwards to the Sadlon Arena, where the service is taking place.

Russell, a 33-year veteran of the force, was a trained crisis negotiator, while Northrup was a six-year member who worked with the community mobilization and engagement unit and served as a member of the mental health crisis outreach team.

The two deaths mark three officers shot dead in Ontario in a month after the fatal shooting of Toronto Const. Andrew Hong in Mississauga, Ont., in mid-September.

The funeral comes two days after RCMP officer Const. Shaelyn Yang was fatally stabbed in Burnaby, B.C., during an altercation at a homeless campsite. Yang was a mental health and homeless outreach officer.