Salluit man, 23, dead following armed stand-off with Nunavik police

A man, 23, is dead after an armed standoff with police in Salluit on Aug. 27. (FILE PHOTO)

A man, 23, is dead in Salluit after an armed stand-off with Kativik Regional Police Force Aug. 27.

The man turned his firearm on himself, said the Montreal Police Service, which is investigating the latest firearms incident in Nunavik, at the request of Quebec’s public security department.

The incident in the Hudson Strait community of about 1,400 started at about 20 minutes before noon Aug. 27, a Montreal police spokesperson said in a bilingual recording at 3:30 a.m. Aug. 28.

Member of the KRPF responded to a call at a residence and were fired on, Const. Simon Delorme said.

A large perimeter around the residence was set up at that time, while the KRPF officers, who called the Sûreté du Québec provincial police force from Kuujjuaq for assistance, tried to negotiate with the armed man inside the house.

What Delorme called the “major event” started at about 2 p.m., after gunfire was heard from inside the house, which began to burn.

Police decided to enter the building to help the man, ”even if there was a threat to their lives,” and found the man dead inside, Delorme said.

The Montreal Police Service was called in to guarantee the “transparency” of the investigation, he said.

Any shooting involving a death and a police force in Quebec, such as as the KRPF, must be investigated by another police force in Quebec, such as the SQ, or, in this case, police from Montreal.

Investigators from the Montreal Police Service were en route to Salluit late Aug. 27.

Less then two weeks ago, an incident involving police and firearms also took place in Akulivik.

Following a gunfight in this community of 600, a member of the KRPF was wounded and an Akulivik man, 54, suffered fatal wounds.

That incident is under investigation by the SQ.