WINTHROP — Most of the people in this small rural community may not have known Huron OPP Const. Vu Pham personally.

But news of his tragic death has shocked them all.

Pham, 37, was shot and killed Monday after pulling over a white pickup truck on North Line, near Seaforth, about an hour north of London.

Police have identified the suspect in the slaying as Fred Preston, 70, of Burk’s Falls, north of Huntsville. Preston was also shot at the scene — a reported eight times — and is listed in critical condition at Victoria Hospital in London.

“It’s what everybody’s talking about,” said Chad Anderson, who sat outside Janet’s Country Donut Café in Seaforth Tuesday afternoon. “You wouldn’t think stuff like this would happen around here. It’s sad. We were all praying for him.”

Police had two areas cordoned off along North Line Road at the site where Pham, a husband and father of three young kids, was shot.

A white two-storey house had police tape hung at the end of the driveway and a police cruiser sitting in front of it.

Police also shut off a section of road at the Hullet-McKillop Road intersection, a short distance from the house.

Neighbours Tuesday morning talked about being shocked at the turn of events on what is typically a quiet rural setting in southwestern Ontario.

“It’s quiet here so this is kind of a big shock,” said Mike Easton.

Lisa Pullman considers the Monday shooting to be an “isolated incident.

“But it’s definitely a shock,” she said.

People who heard the gunshots Monday morning said they didn’t think much of it because people in the area tend to hunt coyotes this time of year.

Ken McCllaum, who lives close to the shooting scene, said that’s exactly what his father thought was happening when he heard the shots around 10:30 a.m.

“Then once they were done my dad said ‘That’s not coyote shooting,’” McCllaum said.

“I don’t think this has ever happened in this area,” he said.

McCllaum said the area is just starting to see some thefts — his dad had his 4-wheeler stolen this year — and that “it’s not as safe as it used to be.”

Still, he said, hearing of someone firing a gun “is not very comforting.

“It’s not right. There’s no need for it,” he said.

McCllaum said he didn’t recognize the white pickup truck that was pulled over before the shooting.

“Everybody knows everybody here,’’ said Robert Glanville. “You don’t even have to use your (turn signal) around here. “It’s quite a quiet neighbourhood.’’

He said police have talked to neighbours, but investigating officers didn’t share much of what they know.

“We’re kind of in the dark,’’ Glanville said.

Ernst Gubelmann, a dairy farmer, was away from home at the time of the shooting. He returned shortly after and saw police. A resident of the area for 18 years, Gubelmann said he had never seen anything like it.

“And I don’t want to see it again,” he said. “There is nobody in our neighbourhood that could be a bad (person).’’

He said he is not worried about his safety, and described the shooting as a tragic matter of “being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’’

Anderson said he was on Main Street in Seaforth when he heard the town’s siren go off around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

“Then I saw a cop speed by. It was the fastest I’ve ever seen a cop go,” he said, adding that “everybody wants to know what the motive was.”

Pham joined the force in 1995 and also worked in the Cochrane and Parry Sound detachments.

cgreeno@therecord.com