A teenage boy in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, has been arrested after allegedly threatening to use a firearm on another youth, marking the third gun-related incident in the Baffin Island community in just over a week.
RCMP in Cape Dorset say they received a call at about 8:50 p.m. ET Friday about two youths fighting.
"One of the youths had threatened to obtain and use a firearm to harm the other," police said in a news release Monday.
Police said officers found the teen and arrested him before he could obtain a firearm. They also seized "a number of unsecured firearms that the youth had access to." The firearms were seized for "safety and storage reasons."
South Baffin MLA Fred Schell, whose constituency includes Cape Dorset, said he knows two 15-year-olds were involved in the incident.
"I can't mention any names but I guess they had a fight and the one kid that lost said, well, he's going to go home and get his grandfather's gun," Schell told CBC News on Monday.
"We have to deal with these youth and explain to them what's right and what's wrong. It's a serious issue."
The arrested teenager appeared before a justice of the peace in Cape Dorset on Saturday and was released on strict conditions, RCMP said.
Police did not indicate what charges he faces but he is to make a court appearance Nov. 3.
Friday's incident was the third alleged firearms-related offence in a week in Cape Dorset, a community of about 1,200.
On Wednesday, two youths were taken into custody after a shootout with RCMP.
Three days before that, on Oct. 10, police charged a 19-year-old man after a 3½-hour armed standoff at a Cape Dorset home. After the standoff ended, RCMP found the slain body of the man's older brother inside the house.
Community groups in Cape Dorset held a meeting Thursday to discuss the spate of recent gun violence.
Nunavut RCMP Chief Supt. Steve McVarnock told CBC News on Thursday that alcohol appeared to be a factor in the two earlier gun-related incidents. However, police said neither drugs nor alcohol played a part in the latest incident.
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