Nunavut man charged with murder in Sanikiluaq stabbing

A resident of Sanikiluaq was stabbed and killed in the early hours of June 19, RCMP said. A 35-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder. (FILE PHOTO)

A resident of Sanikiluaq was stabbed to death earlier this week, prompting a day-long police standoff and community lockdown.

The Nunavut RCMP and crisis negotiators were called to the Baffin community in the early hours of June 19 to respond to reports of a man barricaded in a home with a weapon.

The armed individual had allegedly stabbed “an acquaintance” who later died from their injuries, police said in a June 21 release.

Police have not named the victim of Tuesday morning’s attack.

Josie Takatak, 35, has now been charged with murder and breaking court-ordered conditions. Police said he remains in custody and will appear in court in Iqaluit on Aug. 14.

The alleged murder was the start of a full-day standoff that forced police to put the community of 900 on lockdown.

The RCMP called in members of its Nunavut incident command containment and crisis negotiation units and, later, officers from the RCMP’s emergency response team in Winnipeg to respond to the threat posed by the barricaded man.

Takatak was arrested late Tuesday afternoon without incident, police said.

The incident remains under investigation.