Armed teen goes on shooting rampage

KIRSTEN MURPHY

A 17-year-old Cape Dorset teen held a woman at gun point on Monday, then turned his gun on two local RCMP officers.

All three escaped unharmed after one of the officers shot the teen in the arm.

The teen, who cannot be named under the Young Offenders Act, is charged with three counts of attempted murder and two counts of uttering threats. He is scheduled to make his first appearance in Nunauvt Court of Justice on Feb. 27.

The two RCMP officers have been flown out of the region on temporary leave. Two replacement officers were flown in on Feb. 13.

V Division Inspector Jim MacDougall could not be reached for comment. A prepared police statement said the RCMP officers responded to a complaint on Feb. 12 about an armed youth threatening to kill someone.

They found a male suspect with a rifle against a woman’s head. When the woman broke free, the suspect fired two shots at her but missed, the release said.

When the teen ran out of ammunition, he retreated into the house and returned with a high-powered rifle. After several minutes of gunfire between police and the teen, an officer hit the youth in the arm. He fell to the ground, was arrested and treated at the health centre.

Mayor Mathew Jaw Saviajuk addressed residents the next day by community radio.

“I told them we have to help those parents and each other by talking to them and praying for them. [Shootings] have been happening a long, long time. Not just in Cape Dorset but other communities, too,” Saviajuk said.

This is the second shooting in two months involving an armed youth. On Dec. 27, a community dance was disrupted after a teen shooter fired shots outside the community hall. No one was injured and a 15-year-old boy faces at least one firearm charge. The case is before the courts.

As in most Nunauvt communities, hunting rifles are an integral part of maintaining a traditional Inuit lifestyle in Cape Dorset. The mayor has no plans to ask parents or hunters to keep tighter control over firearms. A wildlife officer sometimes talks to students about firearm safety, Siviajuk said, but the wildlife position is currently vacant and those talks have stopped.

In contrast to when Const. Jurgen Seewald was fatally shot almost a year ago, the community did not come to a standstill on Feb. 12. Still, Saviajuk wants his community to be known for carving and printmaking, not shoot-outs.

“My community looks worse than it is,” he said.