Accused murderer was free on undertaking

The mayor of Kuujjuaq, Michael Gordon, is outraged that a man accused of killing another man last week in Kuujjuaq had only recently been released from jail after being charged in an earlier violent incident.

Last Friday, Aloupa Watt, 27, the son of Minnie Grey and Willie Watt, died at Montreal General Hospital after receiving a gunshot wound to the head early Thursday morning.

“The murder happened around 5:30 a.m., on Thursday morning at at house 271-D in Kuujjuaq,” said Corporal Jean Fiset, a spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec provincial police. “What happened is there was an argument between the victim and the suspect at the house of the victim. After this disagreement, the suspect left the premises. He came back with a firearm and he shot at the victim, hitting him in the head.”

Alcohol apparently fueled the violence which, according some witnesses, began with a trivial argument over a cigarette.

After a request from the Kativik Regional Police Force for assistance, the SQ’s major crime squad flew from Rouyn-Noranda to Kuujjuaq on Thursday, took a man into custody and returned with him to Rouyn-Noranda for questioning.

Watt was medevaced to Montreal on Thursday, where he later died of his wound.

On Friday, Elijah Snowball, 18, was charged in Amos with first-degree murder. Snowball, who will be detained in Amos, will reappear in court in Kuujjuaq on Aug. 20.

In connection with an incident that occured in May, Snowball also faces charges that include including assault causing bodily harm with a weapon.

In this incident, it is alleged that a man, the brother of one of two male victims, shot them with a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, leaving 10 shots in the stomach of one victim and a single shot in the other’s head.

“They both could have died,” said KRPF police chief Brian Jones at the time. “Both people were very lucky.”

But the court released Snowball back into Kuujjuaq, with conditions that included undertakings to keep the peace, observe a curfew, stay away from the bar, not to consume alcohol, and not to carry firearms.

“The majority of the population of Kuujjuaq was under the impression that this person, this individual, would be incarcerated after the events in the springtime,” Kuujjuaq’s mayor said. “This was very discomforting for us. We thought it was very unusual to see him back so soon, but we rely on the court to do what they do. We rely on them for certain things and this time it didn’t work.”
Gordon said he contacted the KRPF immediately when he saw Snowball back in Kuujjuaq.

Since last week’s death, Gordon has written a letter to the judge in charge, expressing his dissatisfaction.

“We’re very unhappy with what happened,” Gordon said. “It’s very sad for both families, the family of the victim and of the suspect. It’s a very sad story altogether.”