One of a series of violent attacks in the city core in recent weeks, the incident has been linked by police to groups of troubled kids who roam the streets all hours of the night, armed with sticks, ready for a fight.

"We as police have major concerns of where this is going," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Grundy. "We've had 50 calls in two weeks to the downtown area for incidents like these."

That's up sharply from the usual number of calls police normally receive about the core, and those calls don't usually involve reports of attacks of this nature.

And with what appears to be evolving into nightly and random acts of violence, the Yellowknife detachment head fears that some teens are trying to start a gang in the city.

"We've received information that people are trying to get a gang started and in order to get in you have to beat up 10 people," he said.

Madsen, who's offered a $5,000 Crime Stoppers award to find the assailants, warned that if something isn't done to stop the attacks, people will start taking the law into their own hands.

"I'm trying to bring this to an end," he said. "I don't want my grandsons getting mugged in 15 years. I don't want to look back and regret not doing anything."

Madsen said that he's never seen such random violence like this in Yellowknife before, and wants something done about it now.

"We as corporate citizens won't take this -- I will not stand by as Jason is beaten up," said the 27-year resident of Yellowknife.

That kind of reaction is exactly what the police don't want to hear. "I'm afraid that people will take the law into their own hands -- the violence level in the back alleys right now is already very high," Grundy said.

"We're looking for some nonviolent and unconfrontational ways -- right now it's very violent. This is more than just a bunch of kids getting thrown out of coffee shops."

Shopkeepers on the strip of 50th Street commonly known as Range Street say that the violence is getting worse.

One shopowner, who didn't want to identified for fear of retribution from these so-called gangs, said that he has seen the youths carrying weapons.

"They carry weapons like sticks, but hide them in their clothes," he said. "I even saw three girls chasing after this guy with a broken beer bottle. When they caught him, they smashed it over his head. Blood everywhere."

Another shopkeeper agreed that it's no longer safe to walk on the street alone at night. "It's getting worse here over the past few weeks, that's for sure."

Since last week, a petition has been circulating around Yellowknife to enact a bylaw prohibiting kids from being on the streets between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The petition is a direct response to the increased violence on the streets in recent weeks.

But Mayor Dave Lovell says such a bylaw will likely never be instituted within the city. In fact, there was a curfew bylaw on the books until "a couple of years ago."

"I think it was eventually taken off the books because it was not enforceable," he said.

And for this reason, Lovell doubts that it will ever return to the city.

"Probably no because of the enforcement problem," he added.