Nunavut RCMP deals with firearms incident in Resolute Bay

The hamlet office in Resolute Bay remained under lockdown during the afternoon of June 14. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Qarmatalik School in Resolute Bay was under lockdown during the afternoon of June 14. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

This Google map shows the location of Resolute Bay where members of the RCMP are now dealing with an armed man inside a residence.

(Updated, 5:50 p.m.)

Members of the Nunavut RCMP were involved in a standoff with an armed individual barricaded in a home in Resolute Bay, but that has ended “peacefully, without injury,” the RCMP said, and a man is now in custody.

The latest update from police on the resolution of the standoff came at about 5:30 p.m ET.

According to a news release sent out by the RCMP earlier, at about 3 p.m. ET on June 14, a number of rounds had been fired inside the home.

Police asked people in the community of roughly 270 to stay away from House #117.

The local school remained on lockdown, police said.

The RCMP release also asked people in the community to limit their use of social media during the lockdown.

“The RCMP would like to thank residents of Resolute Bay for their patience and understanding following our direction to remain inside and away from the occurrence area,” police said in its updated release.

Last November, Resolute Bay also found itself under a lockdown during a prolonged standoff with police which also involved the RCMP Emergency Response Team from Alberta. That standoff ended when members of the team entered the residence in which the man had barricaded himself and found he was “unfortunately already deceased.”

The standoff and resulting lockdown in Resolute Bay on June 14 marks the fourth firearms-related incident in Nunavut this week about which the RCMP has issued a news release:

• a boy, 11, was injured, but “stable” after June 12 Arviat firearms incident;

• a 18-year-old in Cambridge Bay waved a pellet gun, then stabbed an RCMP officer who tried to detain him June 11; and,

• a 22-year-old man faces firearms charges after allegedly discharged a firearm around Sanikiluaq June 9;