A Fredericton man is facing four charges of first-degree murder after a shooting in Fredericton, N.B. on Friday.

Matthew Vincent Raymond, 48, was charged Saturday morning with the deaths of two Fredericton police officers and two civilians, according to a news release from Fredericton police.

The officers, identified Friday, are Const. Sara Burns, 43, and Const. Robb Costello, 45. Police confirmed the identity of the other two victims Saturday morning: Donald Robichaud, 42, and Bobbie Lee Wright, 32.

Robichaud and Wright were in a new relationship, according to his cousin, Sean Callahan. He said they had just gotten together at the beginning of August.

Callahan said there was “nothing bad you can say about” Robichaud.

“When I got a message yesterday asking me if Donnie got shot, I was like, who in the hell would want to shoot Donnie Robichaud?” he told the Star in an interview.

Callahan said he joined Robichaud’s mother and other family members at Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on Friday morning. An RCMP officer confirmed with them around 6 p.m. that Robichaud was one of the victims, Callahan said.

Robichaud, a father of three, lived alone on Brookside Dr., according to his cousin. The shooting occurred at that address around 7 a.m. Friday.

Just 12 hours after a shooting that shocked the city of Fredericton, more than 100 people packed into a local church Friday night to mourn the victims.

St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church is less than a kilometre away from the site of the shooting. Citizens of the small New Brunswick city gathered to sing hymns, sit in silent prayer and light candles.

“I’m so sad,” said Mei Yong, who brought her 2-year-old son, Nova Lin, to the vigil.

Yong said she was there to show her support to Fredericton police, who helped her in a time of personal need. Even though she didn’t know the two officers who were killed, she said she was grieving with those who did.

Costello, 45, had served for 20 years with Fredericton police. “He loved being a police officer and he lived for being a police officer,” his common-law partner, Jackie McLean said.

“He is the only police officer who I have ever known who could write someone a ticket and have the person thank them after.”

Burns, 43, was with Fredericton police for the past two years as an officer, and two years before that as an auxiliary officer.

Fredericton is a city of less than 60,000, and its residents are tightly connected.

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One of those residents, retired United Church minister Brian DeLong, began getting calls just after 4 p.m.

Police had just released the names of the officers — the first to respond to the call — who had been fatally shot, and people were badly rattled by the news. One of the victims, Const. Burns, was the daughter-in-law of two members of his congregation.

“People from my congregation called me and said, ‘Did you know?’ ” DeLong said before the vigil.

He rushed to join the vigil at St. John the Evangelist, where he read a scripture in dedication to Burns’ family, and all those grieving.

The vigil was open to the whole community, its doors propped open to let in the evening breeze as the sun began to set.

Fans moved the air around in the small gym where people gathered, but it remained hot after another stifling summer day.

Read more:

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A timeline of the deadly shooting in Fredericton

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After the vigil, some made their way toward the scene of the shooting.

Several blocks around the site of the shooting remained blocked off by police and New Brunswick RCMP on Friday evening, with several officers and a forensic investigation vehicle parked outside a four-building apartment complex at 237 Brookside Dr.

Apparent bullet holes were visible in a second-storey window of one of the buildings at the complex.

“It’s unbelievable in Fredericton,” Yong said. “It’s safe here, it’s not Toronto, so I just can’t believe it.”

With files from The Canadian Press

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