INUVIK - As Kelly Donovan worked late Friday night, having just opened his auto repair shop on Industrial Road a few days earlier, a bullet shot through the back wall of the garage and into a van he had been working on.

"It sounded like a firecracker," he said.

Kelly Donovan, owner of Eagle Maintenance Services, estimates a stray bullet caused about $2,200 worth of damage to a client's vehicle (not shown here) when it was fired through the back wall of the garage and became lodged in the van's dashboard. Police are seeking information about the shot fired around 9:20 p.m. Friday near Industrial Road. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photos

He and his crew wondered who had set one off until they noticed the bullet-sized hole in the wall. The bullet pierced the side of the van, bounced around inside and became lodged in the dashboard.

"We were on the other side of the van, so if the van wasn't there, who knows what would have happened," Donovan said, adding he believes the incident was accidental.

He called the police, who arrived around 9:30 p.m. and are still investigating the incident.

RCMP Cpl. Sean Doornbos said police believe the bullet came from the direction of the hills in back of the building, an area populated with construction and contracting companies away from Inuvik's residential core, though a few people do live nearby.

Doornbos said the police have some leads but he did not want to speculate as to whether the shot might have been a hunter's stray bullet.

"We don't know that there was any intent. What we're hoping is that we can locate an individual or the person who was responsible for firing the shot - not for any reason other than to verify that there was no ill intent involved," he said.

"We're hoping that the public will step forward and let us know if they know of anybody who was either target practising within sight of town or was hunting within sight of town and had an unaccounted-for round."

He said police were treating the case as a criminal investigation "because you're looking at the careless use of a firearm, but until we have all the facts we aren't in the position to comment as to whether or not we would be pressing charges," he added.

Donovan said the van's owner, who was out of town this week, was understanding when he heard what had happened to his vehicle. Donovan estimated the bullet caused about $2,200 worth of damages to the van, which he repaired.

He said he'll file an insurance claim for that and for the $100 patch job he did to the wall in his shop.

Down the street from Eagle Maintenance at Arctic Builders, office manager Leslie Weitzel said she has never heard a shot fired in the area, which is not typically used for hunting.

"We lived for 10 years on Industrial Road and we've never had that happen before," she said.

"Our kids do come out to our shop quite a bit, but we haven't brought them out since, just in case.

"You just never know."