The mayor Gore Bay says the community is reeling after a shooting that left a police officer and a civilian dead Thursday.

The officer has been identified as Provincial Const. Marc Hovingh, who had been a member of the service for 28 years and worked out of the Little Current detachment.

The officer had been called to investigate an “unwanted man” on a property in Gore Bay, Ont., early Thursday afternoon, the province’s police watchdog said.

The Special Investigations Unit said Hovingh was shot and killed after he arrived.

Dan Osborne, mayor of Gore Bay, says news of the incident quickly spread through the small island community yesterday.

He says it’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, and the loss is “devastating.”