By Canadian Press

Ontario community grieving after shooting that killed officer, civilian

Nov 20, 2020 | 10:58 AM

Residents of Ontario’s Manitoulin Island are remembering a police officer shot and killed in the line of duty on Thursday as a gentle giant who loved his four kids dearly. 

Ben Quackenbush, a youth minister at Mindemoya Missionary Church, says Const. Marc Hovingh was a familiar presence on the island in Lake Huron. 

He says Hovingh attended the church for two decades, and embodied the Christian spirit. 

The 52-year-old Hovingh had been a member of the Ontario Provincial Police for 28 years, and Quackenbush says he was nearing retirement. 

A 60-year-old man who has yet to be identified also died in Thursday’s incident. 

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The Special Investigations Unit — Ontario’s police watchdog — is probing the civilian’s death, while OPP say Sudbury Police will investigate Hovingh’s death. 

The SIU says Hovingh was shot and killed after he and another officer responded to an “unwanted man” on a property in Gore Bay — one of several towns on Manitoulin Island. 

The agency says he and the man exchanged gunfire, and both died after being taken to hospital. 

The other officer was uninjured in the incident. 

The mayor of Gore Bay says the shooting has left the community reeling.

Dan Osborne says news of the incident quickly spread through the small island community.

He says it’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, and the loss is “devastating.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2020.

The Canadian Press