Armed man who held Nunavut town hostage for hours gets 15 years

For five hours, Donovan Iyerak sought out and fired at local police officers in Igloolik—at one point, firing at the RCMP detachment, above, while an officer lay injured inside. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut Justice Susan Cooper sentenced Donovan Iyerak to 15 years in prison, minus time served, after a sentencing hearing Oct. 4 in Igloolik. (FILE PHOTO)

A man responsible for laying siege to the Igloolik RCMP detachment with a rifle and seriously injuring an officer during a 2014 shootout has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, minus time served, after he pleaded guilty to a series of charges including attempted murder.

Nunavut Justice Susan Cooper sentenced Donovan Iyerak, 30, in Igloolik, Oct. 4, and acknowledged the trauma created by his actions continues to resonate throughout the hamlet of roughly 1,600 people and beyond.

Iyerak pleaded guilty to attempted murder, recklessly discharging a firearm, endangering life by discharging a firearm, pointing a firearm, and breaching a court-ordered prohibition against firearm use when he opened fire on Igloolik RCMP officers, their detachment and residential homes on Oct. 4, 2014.

“This has been a very difficult matter for many people, and the sentencing hearing was at times highly emotional,” Cooper said in a transcript of the sentencing hearing obtained by Nunatsiaq News.

“Remorse was expressed and accepted as genuine,” she said. “The victims, the family, the community slowly came together to share their emotion.”

Iyerak will serve about 11 years of his 15-year sentence, which was put forward in a joint submission by lawyers. Iyerak was credited at an enhanced rate for time already served in custody since his arrest three years ago.

The court also imposed a lifetime firearms ban on Iyerak, but he will be permitted to use a gun for subsistence hunting after a period of 10 years.

The guns he used to attack the RCMP officers were forfeited and his DNA will be added to a national offender database.

According to the facts of the incident, described in the court transcript, Iyerak left his home by snowmobile, armed with a rifle, on the day of the shootout after arguing with his girlfriend over unrelated charges that had been laid against him by the RCMP.

“Donovan stated he would shoot the police if they came for him,” Cooper said. “He said he would kill them and then kill himself.”

After being notified that Iyerak was armed, unstable and potentially suicidal, Igloolik RCMP began combing the community for him.

Iyerak opened fire from a hilltop on an RCMP vehicle as it approached him, hitting the truck, but missing the officers inside.

Iyerak chased the officers back to their detachment and, over the course of “five hours of terror,” shot dozens of rounds into the detachment. He also shot at parked RCMP vehicles and at the homes of RCMP officers, whose families were inside.

One bullet struck the leg of an RCMP officer who was inside the detachment during the siege.

Two other officers in the detachment at the time tended to the wound by communicating with a doctor over the phone.

“The doctor needed a diagram of the location of the injuries,” Cooper explained, which was then transmitted by fax machine by the other officers, who were, at the time, still being shot at by Iyerak.

Iyerak was eventually persuaded to surrender by Jonah Uyarasuk, Adam Qanatsiaq and Iyerak’s girlfriend, who, Cooper said, approached the gunman at their own risk.

“For those victims who no longer live in Nunavut and for those for whom this is their last memory of the territory, I hope that you will also think of the actions of these citizens and understand that it is these actions that reflect the true sentiment of Nunavummiut,” Cooper said.

Prior to the shootout, Cooper said Iyerak had routinely gotten into arguments with his girlfriend and her mother, at times using guns to threaten their lives and that of his girlfriend’s son.

According to psychological assessments provided to the court, Iyerak had a history of substance abuse as well as a history of hallucinations, paranoia and suicidal thoughts.

Cooper called the incident “tragic” for both the lingering trauma felt by the victims, but also Iyerak’s family members who will lose “a son, a brother, a partner, [and] a hunter for a very long time.”

“[Iyerak’s] son will essentially grow up without knowing his father,” Cooper said.

The officers involved in the shootout, as well as their families, continue to suffer from sleeplessness, nightmares and insecurity stemming from the incident, according to victim impact statements submitted to the court, Cooper said.

The injuries sustained by the officer who was shot “will never fully heal” and will “continue to impair his enjoyment of life,” Cooper said.

Cooper credited Iyerak for expressing remorse over the incident to the court, but more importantly to the victims present in the courtroom.

“No one doubts the authenticity of his remorse,” Cooper said.

Ultimately, however, Cooper said Iyerak’s actions were the culmination of several weeks of threats and planning.

“He had every opportunity to change his mind. He had every opportunity to turn back, and he chose not to,” she said.

“As a result, the lives of many people have been irrevocably changed.”