Family ties help end Igloolik stand-off peacefully

JOHN THOMPSON

An armed stand-off in Igloolik ended peacefully on Monday after four days of tense negotiations between police and a man holding three young children hostage.

Police arrested Theophile Akkuardjuk, 37, after a man abandoned his barricaded home and surrendered himself late on Monday evening. He faces two counts of attempted murder in connection with shots fired at social workers and numerous firearm-related offences.

Police first received a call around midnight last Friday evening from Akkuardjuk’s former common-law wife, who phoned them from a neighbour’s home to report that a man threatened to shoot her and their three young children.

When two RCMP officers arrived, a man pointed his rifle at the officers and threatened to shoot them. The RCMP retreated and called for reinforcements. A short time later, a man fired shots at two social workers who arrived at the home. Both escaped unharmed.

Crisis negotiators, dog handlers and other members of the RCMP’s emergency response team flew in from both Iqaluit and Yellowknife, providing a total of about 25 officers on the ground, who worked in shifts to monitor the barricaded home at all hours and negotiate with the man.

But police credit the help of two residents, George Qulaut and elder Anthony Qrunnut, for bringing the standoff to an end.

Akkuardjuk requested Qulaut, who is his father’s cousin, to serve as an intermediary between him and police. As the two men began to talk, Qulaut said they quickly formed an emotional bond when he realized one of the three children was named after his own daughter, who had committed suicide.

“It was very difficult for me,” Qulaut said. “My own personal emotions were creeping in on me.”

Qulaut said he saw his first glimmer of hope when it became clear the children were being treated well. “I could hear laughter,” he said.

“I said look, when all this goes well, I’ll be very happy to see that little girl again. He said yes.”

Eventually, Qulaut said, he broke through to the man, who he said stopped shielding his emotions and agreed to surrender to police.

“What broke the whole thing, I think he was able to cry, and later to laugh about it,” Qulaut said.

He compared the high-risk negotiations to hunting. “It’s like … hunting walrus on fast-moving ice: you use all your senses,” he said.

The children, aged three, two and seven months, are in good health and have been returned to their mother.

Neither police nor Qulaut would speculate what sparked the standoff, although RCMP believe alcohol helped fuel the initial conflict. Akkuardjuk is to appear in court in Iqaluit today.

Igloolik RCMP’s Cpl. André Turcotte thanked the community’s residents, who prayed throughout the standoff for a peaceful resolution, for their patience and support. “We only had one goal, and that was the safety of everyone,” he said.