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KIMMIRUT/LAKE HARBOUR
Kimmirut will create a safety committee, police will focus on gun safety, and health officials are being asked to help find solutions to the problems that led to the eighth violent attack on police since 2006, police said at an Aug. 7 news conference.

RCMP V Division Supt. Hilton Smee says gun safety laws require firearms to have trigger locks and to be stored in a room that cannot be accessed by people other than the owner. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"We don't know why (police are being targeted in Kimmirut)," Supt. Hilton Smee said. "It's one of the reasons we went to the community, to work through those reasons, and to establish some goals for the future."

That community visit took place on Aug. 3, when RCMP and Justice officials got to see first-hand what two police officers and a woman faced when a man shot at Kimmirut's RCMP detachment at 2 a.m. on July 28. That night, the woman knocked on one officer's door, saying the officers' lives were in danger.

The second officer was awakened and the three went next door to the detachment. After they were inside, an apparently intoxicated man opened fire outside. A group of about 10 citizens subdued the shooter, and no one was hurt.

"It is quite sobering seeing approximately 21 bullet holes hit our detachment and vehicle," V Division Chief Supt. Steve McVarnock stated in a release. "These rounds were not random and were very well placed. We are all very fortunate that (the officers and the woman) were not struck by any of these rounds."

McVarnock, Smee, Insp. Gerry Kerr, Justice deputy minister Norman Tarnow and assistant deputy minister Rebekah Williams met with Mayor Qinnuayuaq Pudlat and council before a very well-attended afternoon meeting at the community hall to discuss officers' and residents' safety.

"There was a number of heartfelt discussions, and there was some open and honest dialogue with everyone in the community," Smee said. "The community was very concerned about what had happened over the past number of years, and raised strong ideas about how to strengthen itself as a safe and healthy community."

Going forward, police will continue to work to increase gun safety awareness, connect with community members, and decrease illegal alcohol bootlegging. The community's new detachment commander arrived Aug. 8, a second permanently stationed officer is expected to be in place by this week, and two others will stay until the risk to police officers is reduced.

The RCMP has asked the Department of Health and Social Services to consider sending counsellors into the community to facilitate a healing ceremony. That said, negative feelings toward police were not expressed at the meeting.

"I did not get a sense of that at all," Smee said. "It was about how do we make this better so that this does not happen again."

Smee reiterated that gun safety laws require firearms to have trigger locks and to be stored in a room that cannot be accessed by people other than the owner. He revealed that the .303 rifle the shooter used was not owned by the person who shot the rounds, and he did not have permission to take the weapon. Despite this, the accused shooter, 20-year-old Joe Utye, is not charged with stealing the weapon, police said at an Aug. 7 news conference.

"It wasn't stolen," he said, explaining that the suspect's intent was critical. "It's all in the interpretation of the law. It wasn't owned by him, and he didn't have permission to take it."

In 2010, South Baffin MLA Fred Schell purchased 700 gun locks for his constituents using $5,500 of his own money after a string of violent incidents.

"I challenged the government to do it for the rest of the territory," he told Nunavut News/North in May. "I made a commitment in the legislature that if the government wasn't going to pay for it, I was going to pay for it for my two communities. If you buy in volume, they are fairly cheap."

Media relations officer Const. Ian Allen said detachments were given locks to distribute to residents some time ago, and some detachments still have some available. The Arctic Bay detachment, for example, was distributing them in the days following the attack.

Nunavut News/North was told Department of Justice officials would not comment on the Friday meeting. Kimmirut's mayor did not reply to a request for comment.

Utye's next court date is Aug. 14. He faces one count of intentionally discharging a weapon, one count of carrying a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, and four counts of uttering death threats.

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