A coroner’s inquest will be held into the fatal shootings of a Huron OPP officer and the man who was charged with the Constable’s killing.
37 year old Constable Vu Pham of Wingham was gunned down on the side of a country road in March near Winthrop.
Fred Preston — who was shot six times in a subsequent gun battle with another officer — was facing a first-degree murder charge before he died in hospital.
No date has been set yet for the inquest.
The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has cleared Huron OPP Constable Del Mercy in the shooting death of Preston.
The SIU’s final report says Preston broke into his sister-in-law’s home — and police believe he intended to harm her in retaliation for his wife leaving him.
Constables Pham and Mercy went to the home in separate vehicles, but when they arrived Preston had left.
Pham pulled over Preston’s pickup a short time later and radioed his location to Mercy before exiting his cruiser.
