Iqaluit man killed with blow from blunt object

SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — The homicide of a 39-year-old Iqaluit man was the result of “blunt force trauma,” an autopsy conducted this week at the Ontario Office of the Forensic Pathologist in Toronto has concluded.

An RCMP communiqué said the autopsy had further confirmed that the death of Shoatee Joannie was a homicide. Sgt. Mike O’Malley of the Iqaluit RCMP detachment would not say whether a murder weapon had been found.

“We do have suspects. But no one has been charged yet,” he said. Police do not want to concentrate on one suspect and then miss something, O’Malley said Wednesday. “That’s called closing the net too quickly. We want to open it as wide as possible and collect as much information as we can.”

O’Malley would not say who found Joannie in his home near the Road to Nowhere and then called police to the crime scene at 1:30 a.m. last Saturday, Sept. 25. But he did say that Joannie was already dead when he was discovered.

“That’s why we’re trying to concentrate on Thursday and Friday and when and where he was seen, what his movements were,” he said.

Police want to pin down exactly when the killing could have happened, O’Malley said, and would be grateful for any information the public can share about Joannies activities before his death,

Specialists in homicide investigations are being flown in from Winnipeg, Man. and Halifax N.S., to assist the 20 local RCMP officers who are already working on the case, O’Malley said.

“These are people in sections down south that deal specifically with homicides on almost a daily basis and would have much more training and experience in dealing with these kinds of matters than even our local members would,” he said.

He said toxicology results are not back yet and he could not say whether alcohol was a factor in the incident.

“He was a nice guy. Quiet. I couldn’t believe it when I heard about it,” said one of Joannie’s neighbor’s.