2,000 pay respects to Mountie

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Const. David Matthew Wynn

A procession of 2,000 police officers is snaking its way through the streets of a city just outside Edmonton in honour of a colleague killed in the line of duty.

RCMP Const. David Wynn died after he and auxiliary Const. Derek Bond were shot during a struggle with a suspected car thief at a casino in St. Albert earlier this month.

The procession includes 860 Mounties in their traditional red serge and 450 officers from the municipal police force in nearby Edmonton.

The Mounties have come from as far away as Newfoundland, Iqaluit and British Columbia.

A handful made the trip from Bridgewater, N.S., where Wynn served as a paramedic and was inspired to join the national police force.

Hundreds of spectators, who were encouraged to wear red, are lining the procession route in unseasonably warm temperatures and holding Canadian flags.

Wynn is survived by his wife, Shelly and his three sons, Matt, Nathan and Alex.

Several dignitaries are expected at the funeral, which is to follow the procession, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Alberta Premier Jim Prentice.

Bond, who was shot in the arm and torso, survived the attack, but faces a long recovery.

The shooter, a career criminal named Shawn Rehn, took his own life hours later.