Friday, June 19, 2009

RCMP in Iqaluit exchange gunshots with distraught man

The Canadian Press Fri. Jun. 19 2009

IQALUIT -- Police exchanged gunshots with a 20-year-old man who was walking around outside the community's high school armed with a rifle, an RCMP spokesman said Friday. Staff Sgt. Leigh Tomfohr said the incident started just before 5 p.m. when police received a call about a distraught man walking near Inuksuk High School armed with a gun. "There was a complaint of an individual walking around with a rifle. We attended and confronted him and that's what happened," Tomfohr said. Classes were over for the day so no one was inside the school at the time, Tomfohr said. "There were no students in the area," he said. Tomfohr said the man fired the first shot at a police officer on the scene. "He shot at us and we returned fire," said Tomfohr. There were three other officers in the area at the time, but the exchange of gunshots involved just one RCMP officer, he said. Amazingly, neither the suspect nor any police officers were injured in the incident. The matter is under investigation by the Major Crime Unit in Iqaluit and the 20-year-old suspect is facing unspecified charges, Tomfohr said. He said the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation. The suspect's name hasn't been released. About 450 students attend the high school in Nunavut's capital.
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Top cop makes northern move April 23

His first posting as an RCMP officer was in Frobisher Bay, near Baffin Island, as a 20-year-old fresh out of depot training in Regina. Now, Steve McVarnock is returning to Canada’s Arctic for a fourth tour of duty. The newly named superintendent of the Vernon/North Okanagan RCMP detachment is leaving to become chief superintendent and commanding officer of the RCMP’s V division in Nunavut. McVarnock will be based in the territory’s capital, and its only city, Iqaluit,

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