RCMP said a shooting in Fort Simpson in the early hours of Friday morning has left one person injured.
In a Friday news release, police said preliminary information indicates the incident was targeted and that no immediate risk to the public has been identified.
The Fort Simpson RCMP detachment received a call at about 1:40 am on Friday, about a man who had been shot in a backyard, police said.
The victim was brought to the local health centre before being transferred to Yellowknife for further treatment.
“An investigation has been launched with support from several units, including the Yellowknife General Investigation Section, the Major Crimes Unit, the Forensic Identification Services, the Territorial Crime Reduction Unit, and the Police Dog Services,” RCMP stated in the news release.
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Fort Simpson resident Sean Whelly said he was having his regular evening coffee at the Nahanni Inn when an employee who had been walking home came in to get help because he heard gunshots and someone yelling for help.
Whelly said he and others got into a vehicle and drove to the scene where he saw a man who had been shot in the lower back laying in the grass while people applied a compress to the wound to stop the bleeding.
“He was in pain, but he was conscious,” said Whelly.
When he said it seemed like he couldn’t be of any more help to the wounded man, he went back into his truck to help direct the RCMP and ambulance to the scene.
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Whelly said he didn’t know the victim, and that he hadn’t seen him before.
He said the incident has left people in the community feeling disconcerted, and that “a feeling that the safety of Fort Simpson has been violated.”
When he got home, Whelly said he locked his door, something he doesn’t ever normally do.
He said he felt it was “inevitable” that something like this might eventually happen in the community.
“[You] never really think its going come to that in Fort Simpson because everybody knows everybody,” said Whelly.
