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Investigators look over the scene of a shooting that took the life of Ontario Provincial Police officer Vu Pham, 37, near Seaforth, Ont. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)

A central Ontario community was in shock after learning a well-respected former local politician was a suspect in the fatal shooting of a police officer who grew up in the same area.

Const. Vu Pham, a 15-year Ontario Provincial Police veteran, was fatally wounded in a shootout near the community of Seaforth in southwestern Ontario on Monday. He died several hours after being airlifted to London Health Sciences Centre, with his wife and children at his side.

Fred Preston, 70, a former reeve in the rural township of Joly, south of North Bay, was shot several times Monday and remains in critical condition in London’s Victoria Hospital, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said. He has not been charged.

Sources say Preston’s wife left him last fall and went in with their youngest daughter in southwestern Ontario. Police believe Preston was on his way to see his wife when they say he was pulled over.

Families of 2 men know each other

In a coincidental twist, both Pham and Preston hail from the same area in central Ontario. Pham, who was born in Vietnam, spent his teenage years in the village of Sundridge in Joly Township, where he was raised by his adoptive family.

Members of Pham’s family still live in the area, and his sister Christina Hurrell said they are friends with members of Preston’s family. But she said she did not believe the two men knew each other.

(CBC)

Hurrell said the incident wouldn’t effect the friendship between the two families.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Hurrell. “They didn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t even despise him … there’s just no point.”

Other neighbours who knew Preston said he was a friendly, polite man who served in local government from the 1990s until 2003 in Joly Township, which lies on the western edge of Algonquin Park. Residents also said he was an avid hunter and wood carver who used a chainsaw to cut life-size animal carvings from wooden stumps.

Pat Middlebrook, who owns a café in Joly, said she has known Preston for a few years and said he was a cool, pleased guy.

“I’m in total shock,” she said.

Funeral plotted for Friday

Pham, a 15-year police veteran, had worked out of the Huron County detachment and had previously served in the Cochrane and West Parry Sound detachments.

Const. Vu Pham, 37, of the Ontario Provincial Police was fatally shot Monday. (Ontario Provincial Police/Canadian Press)

He lived in Wingham, Ont., near Seaforth, with his wife, Heather, and three sons and was hailed by neighbours and police as an active member of the community, involved in the local church, youth soccer and minor hockey.

A funeral has been scheduled for Pham in Wingham on Friday afternoon.

No charges laid in case

Monday’s shootout started when police were called at 10:18 a.m. to the North Line in Huron County, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said. Officers tried to pull over a pickup truck when they were confronted by an armed man.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit said two other officers were on the scene with Pham at the time of the shooting. After Pham was shot, the suspect and officers exchanged gunfire, and witnesses said as many as 20 shots were fired.

The OPP’s criminal investigation branch and the SIU, which probes cases of serious injury or death involving police and civilians, are investigating.

With the latest death, 104 OPP officers have been killed in the line of duty since the force was established in 1909.

Under the Criminal Code, the killing of a police officer is considered first-degree murder regardless of whether it was plotted or deliberate. First-degree murder carries a life sentence on conviction with no chance of parole for 25 years.

With files from The Canadian Press