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NNSL Photo/Graphic

Hundreds gathered at the Iqaluit RCMP detachment to show support for RCMP and their families the day after Const. Scott was killed in Kimmirut. They joined hands around the building and sang Amazing Grace in Inuktitut. - Stephanie McDonald/NNSL photo

Sorrow and devastation

Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 12, 2007

KIMMIRUT/LAKE HARBOUR - Twenty-year-old Const. Douglas Scott was responding to a complaint of a drunk driver in Kimmirut on Nov. 5, but before he was able to get out of his police vehicle, he was shot in the head by a high-powered rifle and killed.

Kimmirut resident Pingoatuk Kolola, 37, charged with first-degree murder of an RCMP officer on Nov. 7, appeared before the Nunavut Court of Justice on Friday afternoon.

He was in handcuffs and escorted into the courtroom by two RCMP officers. Justice of the Peace Alexina Kublu read aloud the murder charge and had to ask Kolola twice in English if he understood.

His appearance lasted less than 10 minutes, and he remains in police custody.

His next scheduled court date is Dec. 4.

Meanwhile, the suspect's family has been "devastated" by the tragic incident, RCMP Supt. Tim Cogan said.

"They are deeply distraught by what has occurred. They expressed their sorrow to (Scott's) family," Cogan said during a press conference on Wednesday following a meeting with relatives of the suspect. "The family of the accused are trying to understand what happened."

A team of psychologists and the RCMP chaplain have been dispatched to the community.

"We are all saddened and to some extent we're angry, because he was friendly to everyone," said Akeego Ikkidluak, Kimmirut's senior administrative officer. She said that all of the town's children would surround and greet Scott when he walked his dog.

He had only been posted to Kimmirut, a southern Baffin Island community of 400 people, a month before he was fatally shot.

At approximately 11:56 p.m. on Nov. 5, Scott was radioed about a suspected impaired driver. He began patrolling the community and was directed by two residents to where the suspect's vehicle had become stuck.

At 11:20 p.m. the dispatcher from V Division in Iqaluit attempted to contact Scott but received no response.

Ten minutes later, two community members found his body.

"He was found in his vehicle and he was deceased at the time," Cogan said.

The two people who found Scott went to the residence of the second RCMP officer in Kimmirut for help. Upon arrival at the scene, the RCMP officer radioed the dispatcher to say that the rookie constable had been fatally shot.

Just before midnight the suspect was identified and was seen entering his residence. The Emergency Response Team out of Iqaluit arrived shortly afterwards, and after roughly three hours of negotiations, Kolola surrendered peacefully at 4:10 a.m. He was flown in the RCMP aircraft to Iqaluit and charged with first-degree murder two days later.

Approximately 20 additional personnel from the RCMP - including forensics experts - are in Iqaluit and Kimmirut, working on the investigation.

Scott was a recent graduate of the RCMP academy in Regina, Sask., and had been posted to Iqaluit for recruit field training. During his five months of training in Nunavut's capital, he was assigned a trainer who offered constant supervision.

Scott was assessed as capable of working in a less structured environment and sent to the two-person Kimmirut detachment.

Nunavut acts as a training ground for recent graduates of the RCMP program.

When asked if this policy would be reviewed in light of the recent shooting death, Cogan said that the police force is always looking at how best to deploy its members.

It will review the policy, but such reviews are a normal course of action, he said.

It is the second time in a month that an RCMP officer has been shot and killed in the North. Const. Christopher Worden, 30, was gunned down while on duty in Hay River, NWT, on Oct. 6.

The last RCMP officer killed in Nunavut was Const. Jurgen Seewald, 47, who died from a gunshot wound while responding to a domestic dispute in Cape Dorset in 2001.

A regimental funeral has been planned for Scott on Nov. 13 in his hometown of Brockville, Ont.