Nunavut racks up sixth homicide of the year

(Updated 4:00 p.m. Oct. 12)

A Cape Dorset man lies dead while another faces a long list of criminal charges, including second-degree murder, following a Thanksgiving weekend incident that produced Nunavut’s sixth homicide of the year.

Police said in a news release that around 2:40 p.m. Oct. 10, they received a complaint about shots fired inside a local housing unit in Cape Dorset.

A man armed with a firearm then barricaded himself inside the house and fired more shots.

In response, police sent an emergency response team and a negotiator from Iqaluit into the community.

After about three and half hours, the barricaded man gave himself up. Inside, police found the lifeless body of Jamesie Simigak, 23.

Sgt. Jimmy Akavak of the Nunavut RCMP said the barricaded man had access to several long guns and long gun ammunition, and also fired rounds throughout the community.

As many as 20 RCMP members, including the emergency response team, members of the Cape Dorset detachment and members of their major crimes unit, were brought in at various times to respond to the incident, Akavak said.

Elee Geetah, 19, of Cape Dorset now faces the following charges:

• one count second-degree murder;

• five counts of discharging a firearm with intent;

• one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose;

• three counts of mischief not exceeding $5,000;

• one count of pointing a firearm;

• one count of discharging a firearm in a reckless manner;

• one count of assault.

Akavak said Geetah, Simigak’s brother, is being held in custody in Iqaluit, and was to have appeared in court this week.

This incident produced Nunavut’s sixth death by homicide this year, and Cape Dorset’s second homicide.

This past Sept. 20, another Cape Dorset man was shot to death in an incident that led to a second-degree murder charge against an 18-year-old boy.

And in Rankin Inlet this past August, a 23-year-old man died of stab wounds after a fight that led to a charge of manslaughter against another man in Rankin Inlet.

Nunavut has now recorded 44 homicides since April 1, 1999.