Teenage Iqaluit girl flees from armed robbers

SEAN McKIBBON

IQALUIT — A group of young men armed with a hunting rifle tried to rob a 13-year-old girl of her purse near Inuksuk High School last week, police say.

“This is certainly not the type of incident that is common in Iqaluit, and that is why we are taking it so seriously,” said staff sergeant Jim MacDougall of the Iqaluit RCMP.

He said that in an average year there might be only a couple of armed robberies in Iqaluit.

“Usually it’s not a planned thing. It’s more in something like a domestic dispute where someone will pick up a rifle because it’s there. They’re more a weapon of opportunity here,” MacDougall said, explaining that firearms incidents in Nunavut are often different than firearms incidents in southern Canada.

The Iqaluit RCMP issued a press release this week asking anyone with information about the incident to call Crimestoppers.

“She wasn’t injured,” MacDougall said, explaining the girl was able to run away from the group of six to eight young men.

The release says the girl was accosted by the group at 11:30 on May 2.

MacDougall said the girl told police that her attackers were armed with a hunting rifle.

Anyone with any information about the incident can pass it on to police by calling Crimestoppers at 1-800-661-0899.