YELLOWKNIFE - An armed standoff between a 16-year-old youth and the RCMP Emergency Response Team in the Kam Lake industrial park ended Thursday morning after a minute of negotiation.

The youth, whose name cannot be revealed by the RCMP, barricaded himself under a trailer attached to the Third Millennium Camp at 182 Curry Drive, a temporary residence for 30 workers, said Constable Roxanne Dreilich, an RCMP spokeswoman.

RCMP received two calls around 6.30 a.m. from Kam Lake residents who heard what sounded like gunshots and saw a youth shooting at a parked school bus, shattering its windows.

"He appeared to be very young or in his early twenties, wearing a dark ball cap and a long blue coat," said Dreilich.

When RCMP officers arrived the youth fled and took shelter under the Millennium housing unit.

A witness inside the camp, who was trapped along with six other people in one of the common rooms, said he heard somebody say the boy had a gun and was drunk.

"Inside the camp there were people crying; a lot of agitation," the witness said.

Others were simply annoyed.

"Some people were mad because they wanted to go to work but they couldn't."

The witness said that two male residents crouched down in the common room, their ears pressed to the floor, trying to hear the youth's movements. They stomped on the floor to scare him.

After the area was secured, the RCMP Emergency Response Team was called in. Using a bullhorn, a female negotiator called out to the youth and asked him to exit.

Within 59 seconds, the youth "hollered out 'Okay' and just came out," said Dreilich.

The RCMP could not give any further details about the youth or what prompted the incident. The witness inside the camp was awakened at around 6 a.m. by loud voices coming from inside the Millennium camp.

The witness also recalled that, at around 8:30 a.m., a woman inside the camp said she was looking for a youth.

The youth was in custody Thursday afternoon and being interviewed by the RCMP, who continued their search for the firearm.