Nunavik mourns death of Quebec officer

An image being shared on Facebook by hundreds of Leroux’s friends, families and colleagues shows the young officer is his KRPF uniform, looking out over Wakeham Bay in Kangiqsujuaq.

Nunavimmiut are mourning the death of police officer Thierry Leroux, who was killed on duty Feb. 13 in the Quebec community of Lac Simon.

Leroux, 26, responded to a disturbance at a local residence in the Algonquin community that evening, when he was shot to death by another young man who then took his own life.

Leroux, who graduated from the province’s police college in 2013, worked in a few different communities, including a five-month stint with the Kativik Regional Police Force in Nunavik, before arriving in Lac Simon in Quebec’s Abitibi region. At the time of his death, he worked for the local Aboriginal police force in Lac Simon.

But the young officer served from April to August 2014 in Kangiqsujuaq, on Nunavik’s Hudson Strait, where Kangiqsujuamiut remember a kind, friendly and outgoing person.

Nigel Adams, a local sports coach, said although Leroux’s stay in the community was short, he left an impression on many people.

The KRPF officer would play floor hockey and work out with Adams and a group of local youth, who all became friends during Leroux’s time there.

“And if we didn’t lift [weights], he would take the young teenage boys out for a drive around town, to the airport or near the mountains,” Adams recalled.

“He was a good influence to all of us,” he added. “We were fond of him and people enjoyed interacting with him. He was proud of his job.”

Other residents say they would often see Leroux playing with younger kids at one of the community’s playgrounds.

For its part, the KRPF told Nunatsiaq News that the force would have liked to have kept Leroux on longer if he hadn’t found work elsewhere.

The KRPF said it has plans to commemorate the life the of the young officer, and the force has sent its condolences to Leroux’s family.

An image being shared on Facebook by hundreds of Leroux’s friends, colleagues and family members shows the young officer is his KRPF uniform, looking out over Wakeham Bay in Kangiqsujuaq.

Leroux’s death is a sharp reminder to Nunavimmiut of the March 2013 death of KRPF officer Steve Déry, who died similarly, responding to a call about an active shooter at a Kuujjuaq home.

The young shooter shot and killed Déry, before turning the gun on himself.