08-05-2025
One person dead in Kangiqsualujjuaq after reported police shooting
Quebec's police watchdog is investigating after a person in Kangiqsualujjuaq died Tuesday after allegedly being shot by police.
The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes opened the investigation in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to a news release posted to the bureau's website.
The release gives basic details about the incident, but does not offer any identifying information about the victim, including age or gender.
Officers with the Nunavik Police Service located a wanted person inside a tent Tuesday at about 10:30 p.m. and reportedly used pepper spray to force the person out of the tent, the release said.
The person came out of the tent with a 'bladed weapon' and moved toward the officers. An officer then allegedly used a conducted energy weapon — sometimes referred to as a stun gun — and then allegedly fired their gun, injuring the person, who was then transported to the local health centre and pronounced dead.
Deputy Chief Jean-Francois Morin of the Nunavik Police Service declined to comment.
Five investigators were expected to be on their way to Kangiqsualujjuaq as of noon Wednesday and scheduled to arrive at 4 p.m., said bureau spokesperson Jérémie Comtois in a French phone interview.
They will lead an investigation. Comtois confirmed police have retrieved body camera footage from the events.
Comtois did not offer any more information and asked anybody who might have been a witness to contact the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes.
About six months ago, on Nov. 4, 2024, Nunavik police
shot and killed
a man in Salluit and severely injured his twin brother. The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes is also investigating that incident.
The bureau investigates all cases in which a person, other than an on-duty police officer, dies or suffers serious injury by a police officer during a police intervention, or in custody.
