SQ investigates possible homicide death of young man in Kangirsuk

Investigators from the Sûreté du Québec provincial police force are now in the Ungava Bay community of Kangirsuk to investigate the sudden death of a young man, identified by people in the community as Peter Grey, 20.

Officers from the Kativik Regional Police Force responded to a call about gunshots at about 4 a.m. on Sept. 15, SQ spokesperson Martine Asselin said Sept. 16.

They found a person inside a residence who was unconscious, she said.

That person later died at the local health clinic from undisclosed injuries, she said.

However, sources in the community have told Nunatsiaq News that the person, who had been shot in his back, remained conscious until arriving at the clinic, where he lost consciousness and died.

Police arrested two suspects in connection with the death.

The two are said by community sources to be young men, one of whom is under 18.

The KRPF asked the SQ to investigate the incident and its investigators are now in Kangirsuk, the SQ said.

According to information tabled at last week’s Kativik Regional Council meeting in Kuujjuaq, calls involving firearms in Nunavik are up from last year, with 28 reported during the first six months of 2013.

But firearms have been connected with several deaths since the beginning of 2013 — in March of KRPF Cst. Steve Déry, 23, in August of an Akulivik man who died during a weekend gunfight in that community and, also in August, a Salluit man who apparently turned his gun on himself following an armed stand-off with Nunavik police.

with files from Jane George and Sarah Rogers

(More to come)