Latest news with #YukonRCMP
CBC
29-07-2025
- CBC
Family asks for help finding missing man in Whitehorse
The family of a missing man in Whitehorse is asking for help in finding him. Fox Elric was last seen in Whitehorse on July 18. Elric — also known as Keith Atlin — was reported missing on July 21. Yukon RCMP put out a missing person report on July 22. Elric, 30, wears glasses. His head is shaved and he has a black moustache and beard. He is Indigenous, is five-foot-10-inches tall and weighs 210 pounds. He often wears a hat, sunglasses, dark clothing and flip flop sandals. Elric's mother, Eileen Atlin, said she last saw him going into the Mental Wellness and Substance Use Services office on Second Avenue in downtown Whitehorse on Friday morning. She said a staff member texted her on Monday, asking if she knew where Elric was. Atlin said her son is "a gentle, polite, kind person." She said he likes to walk long distances and has walked as far as Carcross and Tagish from Whitehorse before. He also likes to explore Grey Mountain and Chadburn Lake. Atlin said Yukon Search and Rescue was out searching for Elric over the weekend. "He could be anywhere," Atlin said. "I'm still trying to fight for hope."
CBC
24-07-2025
- CBC
Yukon RCMP charge man with kidnapping
A 29-year-old Whitehorse man has been arrested and charged in connection to a kidnapping investigation. Yukon RCMP arrested Cameron David Penner Tuesday evening after the accused was "located by police," according to Chief Superintendent Lindsay Ellis. Police say the accused appeared in court Wednesday afternoon and is currently in custody. Most of the details involving the case are under publication ban, Yukon RCMP said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Ellis said the man has been charged with kidnapping and multiple other "serious related offences." Ellis said out of respect for the victim's privacy, police would not be releasing details on the other charges the man faces or how many charges there are. The police investigation began Sunday night after RCMP received a report that a child hadn't returned home as expected. The child was found an hour later by their parents. Police described the incident as a kidnapping. The accused is scheduled to appear next in court on Aug. 6.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Yahoo
RCMP investigating incident near Skky Hotel in Whitehorse
Yukon RCMP are investigating an incident that happened in the area of the Skky Hotel in Whitehorse over the weekend. In a post on Facebook around 3 a.m. Saturday, police said they had a large presence in the area and were asking anyone with dash cam footage between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. to contact them. They said they are interested in footage from the Skky Hotel, the Alaska Highway corridor and the Hillcrest subdivision. Police said there was no risk to public safety and by 10 a.m. Saturday morning they said they'd cleared the area. The nature of the incident under investigation is unclear. CBC News has reached out to RCMP for more information but has not heard back.
CBC
12-05-2025
- CBC
Police watchdog clears Whitehorse RCMP officers who broke teen's leg during arrest
A police watchdog has cleared two Yukon RCMP officers of any criminal wrongdoing after they broke a 17-year-old girl's leg during an arrest in Whitehorse in 2023. However, investigators with the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) also criticize the officers involved for the way they carried out the arrest, being "callous" and acting in a way that "perpetuated negative stereotypes about police officers." "A quick arrest of a youth for a minor offence that results in a broken bone does not serve the public trust in the same way that careful and thoughtful community policing does," reads ASIRT's investigation report. ASIRT is under contract to the Yukon government to look into any deaths or serious injuries involving police officers, as well as allegations of police misconduct. The report, released April 30, describes the circumstances leading to the teen's arrest and injury on April 8, 2023, in downtown Whitehorse. Investigators used video evidence as well as testimony from the injured teen and emergency medical responders to piece together what happened. Neither of the arresting officers provided a statement or notes to ASIRT investigators. "As the subjects of a criminal investigation, that is their legal right," the report notes. The report describes how Yukon Emergency Medical Services (EMS) had called RCMP that evening for help with an intoxicated 20-year-old female and "an aggressive bystander." When the two RCMP officers arrived at the scene they saw two people, one of whom immediately ran away leaving only the teenaged girl. There was no one else around, including EMS, the report says. On arrival, one of the officers told the girl, who was intoxicated, that she was under arrest for causing a disturbance, "only a few seconds after seeing her," the report says. The officers then immediately moved to arrest the girl and get her into the back of their vehicle. The report says that the teen physically resisted the officers' efforts to get her into the car by placing her feet against the vehicle. At some point during that struggle, her foot became trapped in a wheel well. Her leg was injured as the officers continue to try to force her into the back of the vehicle. ASIRT investigators found there was no evidence that the officers knew the girl's foot was stuck in the wheel well. Once the teenager was in the back seat, one of the officers swore, "in an apparent expression of surprise that her leg was trapped," the report says. It says the other officer then told the girl, "yeah, don't fight with the police." The officers then took the girl to the jail and called EMS from there. Emergency responders came and later determined that the girl suffered a fractured tibia, ruptured ligaments and other injuries to her right knee. Officers' actions 'reasonable' ASIRT investigators determined that if the officers had known the girl's foot was trapped in the wheel well, "they clearly would have been acting unreasonably and would face criminal liability." "However, given that the evidence tends to show that they did not know it was trapped, their actions were reasonable," the report says. Still, the investigators faulted the two officers for arresting the youth "for a minor offence without even taking the time to talk to her." They also cited the officer's "callous comment" about not fighting with police, after the girl was clearly hurt. They say that even if the officers did not commit a crime, that "does not mean that the subject officers dealt with the AP [affected person] in a respectful and professional manner." The investigators also pointed to the officers' decision not to call EMS as soon as they understood that the girl had been injured, and instead took her to jail first. "Police officers have a duty of care to those in their custody and this duty includes seeking prompt medical attention," the report states. "While their delay in seeking medical attention for the [affected person] was not significant enough to attract criminal liability, they still should have sought medical attention immediately."
CBC
04-05-2025
- CBC
Yukon RCMP commanding officer reflects on recent increase in gun violence
Yukon RCMP Chief Supt. Lindsay Ellis says there's been a real jump recently in gun-related incidents and crime across the territory. So far this year, police responded to several reports of gunshots, some of which involved 3D-printed guns. Several youths with firearms were arrested this winter, in unrelated incidents that took place in broad daylight in public spaces. In the past few days alone, an individual walked into a restaurant on Main Street, Whitehorse, brandishing a firearm. On a different day, a shooting took place in the city's Riverdale neighbourhood that sent one person to hospital, while another incident involving a replica firearm forced the evacuation of a building as well as homes and businesses within a two-block radius around downtown Whitehorse. Meanwhile, the federal government gave $4 million last November to help address gun crime and gang violence in the Yukon. So how is the local police handling the rise in gun violence? Ellis spoke to Yukon Morning's Elyn Jones Thursday about why this has become a growing issue and what the RCMP's response to it all is. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length. Yukoners have expressed concerns over what appears to be a rise in gun violence. How real is the issue? Over the last recent months, including over the last week or two, the RCMP have reported on investigations that we've undertaken or reports that we've received ... about firearms being displayed, brandished, or us coming upon firearms through the course of investigations. So it's not just a perception — it's real. We're getting some firearms out of traffic stops. That's highly concerning for officer safety and the public. When I'm seeing that my members every day are interacting with individuals that may have on their person operable or even replica firearms, that's a concern. The overarching concern is the fear that the public feels going anywhere in the Yukon and thinking, you know, "Does this person have a firearm? Is something going to take place in front of me that I have no control over? And I'm an innocent bystander, too." What explains this increase? Some of these incidents are perhaps not related. Some are through different demographics. So it could be that there are adult people who are involved in organized crime or gang-type activity. The territory changed in the last 10 to 15 years, but I think that we're just catching up with the rest of the country. Gun violence has been noted by Stats Canada to have increased over the last 10 years across Canada. There's many different reasons for that. I'd like to think that some of the reason that, in the Yukon, we're reporting on this and that we're responding and that we are coming upon perhaps some of these firearms in our duties, is that we are out there and we're focused on identifying and defusing but also preventing crime. We need to have some hard conversations as a community and as Yukoners about what we feel is acceptable and also what we're willing to do about the root causes. Where are the firearms coming from? There's many sources of illegal firearms in the country. Some are purchased legally through reputable dealers and then made their way into hands that they shouldn't be in. Some guns are smuggled in through other countries and some are ordered ... through the Internet and the dark web in separate parts. Some of these firearms are operable; some of them are replicas. The file that we had in Dawson City at the start of April, that was what we would call a ghost gun. So an untraceable firearm. It's a 3D-print ... so a 3D printer can print that gun and can render it operable. I don't want to opine about why some people would be carrying real or replica firearms. There could be many different reasons ... personal protection, actual wish to commit a crime. But there's no good reason in the Yukon for somebody to be carrying a real or replica firearm. How is the RCMP currently responding to the issue? Our response in those situations is the same. It's a professional, modern application of policing to defuse that public safety threat, and do so in the safest manner possible. Some of the incidents that have occurred in public during daytime hours on Main Street, even last night, are highly concerning with a high risk to public safety. And I can understand why Yukoners are concerned about this uptick. I want to be very clear, though, that the police are well positioned to respond. And we encourage people to, if they see something suspicious, call us. Please give us good details. What more can be done? It comes down to prevention and awareness, and also just conflict resolution. When people are feeling like perhaps it's acceptable to carry these firearms and to escalate, for lack of a better term, their beefs or their conflict with each other, I think that we can do maybe better as a community to try and resolve some of these conflicts.
