RCMP officer shot to death in Nunavut hamlet

Const. Douglas Scott is 2nd Mountie fatally shot in North in past month

Last Updated: Tuesday, November 6, 2007 | 11:51 AM CT

CBC News

People in Nunavut reacted with shock and grief Tuesday to news that an RCMP officer was shot and killed in the Baffin Island hamlet of Kimmirut.

RCMP Const. Douglas Scott, 20, is shown in this RCMP photo.
(RCMP/Canadian Press)

A man was arrested by Kimmirut RCMP several hours after Const. Douglas Scott, 20, was fatally shot while on duty late Monday night. Police have yet to identify the man who was taken into custody in Iqaluit on Tuesday. Charges have not been laid as of Tuesday.

Scott, who was originally from the Brockville, Ont., area, is the second Mountie to be shot and killed in Canada's North in the past month.

"The death of any of our members is deeply felt," Chief Supt. Martin Cheliak, the RCMP's commanding officer in Nunavut, told a news conference Tuesday.

"But when, once again, it occurs in one of our close-knit communities in the North, the pain of that loss seems even greater."

Much of Kimmirut — a hamlet of about 400 located 120 kilometres south of Iqaluit on Baffin Island — was very quiet on Tuesday, as residents reacted with shock to Scott's death.

Local schools were closed for the day. CBC News reporter John Main, who travelled to Kimmirut on Tuesday, said a "large number" of RCMP investigators were at the scene of the shooting and subsequent standoff. That area has been off-limits since the incident took place.

Scott was responding alone to a complaint of an impaired driver shortly before 11 p.m. ET. He radioed in six minutes later to say he was following up on the call.

His fellow officer in the two-person detachment tried to reach him at about 11:30 p.m., but received no response. Local residents told the officer that Scott had responded to the report of an impaired driver and that the driver had crashed into a residence.

Scott was found and later pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m.

"Upon arrival at the scene, it was found that our member had been shot," Cheliak said.

Kimmirut is located 120 kilometres south of Iqaluit on Baffin Island
(CBC)

Shortly afterward, a standoff ensued at a residence nearby and ended at about 4:10 a.m. with the man surrendering without incident.

Cheliak expressed his sympathies to the officer's parents, Doug and Marla Scott, who live near Brockville.

The RCMP said Scott had only been posted in the North, including in Kimmirut, about six months ago. Mayor Joe Arlooktoo said Scott was supposed to be in the hamlet for two years.

Police expect the investigation to take a number of days.

At a separate news conference in Ottawa, RCMP Chief Supt. Fraser Macaulay said they are doing a "very in-depth and comprehensive review" of the force's backup policy and other policies relating to "incidents such as these."

He added that "every call for service has potential inherent danger. In this case, it starts as an impaired driver."

Iqaluit residents join hands in protective circle

In the territorial capital of Iqaluit, roughly 300 residents gathered at the local RCMP detachment Tuesday afternoon for a hastily arranged service to grieve Scott's death and show their support for the Mounties.

About 300 people circled the Iqaluit RCMP detachment in a public show of support Tuesday afternoon.
(Odile Nelson/CBC)

CBC News reporter Fiona Christensen described people joining hands, forming a "human chain" around the detachment building to "symbolically protect" the RCMP members inside. They sang Amazing Grace when the circle was formed.

Residents also gave moving speeches and prayers in the Inuktitut language during the afternoon service. Speaking in Inuktitut, Nunavut Commissioner Ann Meekitjuk Hanson said when such a tragedy happens, it can be too much to bear.

Iqaluit Deputy Mayor Al Hayward described Scott as "a proud member of the RCMP, who paid the ultimate price in service of self-sacrifice, selflessness and an act of duty to Nunavut, our communities and our country.

"We share in the shock and grief of the RCMP, and we're here today to show our unity," Hayward said.

Scott, who was born on Dec. 21, 1986, hailed from Lyn, Ont., eight kilometres north of Brockville. His family learned of what happened around 6 a.m. ET Tuesday.

His uncle, Staff Sgt. Chris Scott of the Kingston Police Force, told CBC News that his nephew had graduated from the RCMP training academy in the spring. He was initially posted to a larger centre in Nunavut before being transferred to Kimmirut, Scott said.

"Dougie," the oldest of three boys, was just getting ready to see his family in what would have been his first visit home in a long time, his uncle said.

220 Mounties killed in line of duty

The shooting comes almost one month after RCMP Const. Christopher Worden was shot to death while responding to a house call in Hay River, N.W.T.

Police launched a search for the suspected shooter a day after the Oct. 6 shooting, and five days later, Emrah Bulatci surrendered to police following a standoff. He has been charged with first-degree murder.

Including Monday's shooting, a total of 220 RCMP officers have been killed in the line of duty since the 1870s. Some have been high-profile deaths, such as the shootings of four young officers in Rochfort Bridge, Alta., in March 2005, and the deaths of two Mounties shot near Mildred, Sask., in July 2006.

Const. Jurgen Ziegfried Seewald, 47, was shot and killed in Nunavut in March 2001 after responding to a domestic dispute in the community of Cape Dorset.