According to a police report acquired by Global News investigative journalist Sam Cooper, Burnaby RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang was fatally stabbed while attempting to save the life of a homeless man on the morning of October 18.
Yang reportedly accompanied a City of Burnaby parks officer as he prepared to serve an eviction notice on a man who had been residing in a tent in a nearby park for a number of months, according to the report, which describes the interaction between the young Mountie and the suspect accused of killing her.
Yang, a member of the Burnaby RCMP’s homeless outreach and mental health team, walked up to the tent and yelled out, but no one answered.
Afterward, she noticed a man inside who had his eyes closed.
According to the complaint, the man replied to Yang’s announcement that she was entering to administer naloxone by exiting the tent and yelling threats at the parks officer.
Then, he and Yang took a step back and radioed for help using their phones and radios.
“According to the report, the man got angry, charged…and then stabbed Constable Yang in the chest area,” said Cooper.
The report adds that the parks officer was unable to see and hear two bullets after a struggle broke out between the two officers and the subject.
The Independent Investigations Office, B.C.’s police watchdog, says Yang shot the suspect with her service weapon, though it’s not known how many shots were fired.
According to the report, the man claimed to have been shot and requested to be released.
A second parks officer showed up and started to assist, and then a bystander stopped his car to lend a hand. Yang reportedly lost consciousness, and despite frantic attempts to save her life, she passed away.
The suspect, Jongwon Ham, 37, was admitted to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
“This is new information that indicates that Constable Yang was trying to save a life and then the tragedy ensues,” said Cooper.
Ham had a successful acting career and was a Toronto-born filmmaker who won an Emmy.
In an interview with Global News, a close friend of Ham expressed his shock at the murder accusations. The friend claimed that about ten years ago, in Toronto, Ham was wrongly accused of sexual assault and that the pressure of the subsequent inquiry drove him to a bad place. Prior to being accused with the first-degree murder of Constable Yang, Ham had a history of being in and out of Vancouver’s jail.
In Feb.
In 2021, Vancouver police reported that a suspect made racial remarks at a victim and kicked them in the face in Chinatown. He was then detained and charged with assault and resisting an officer.
After reportedly making anti-Muslim remarks and assaulting a security guard inside the Harbour Centre food court, Ham was taken into custody and charged with assault once more in March.
Ham remains in custody and is due to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court Nov. 2 on the murder charge.
— Including documents from Rumina Daya and Simon Little.
police report information RCMP Constable Shaelyn Yang’s fatal interaction with homeless man
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