Fatal northern Quebec police shooting followed drunk driving call, watchdog says

MONTREAL — A police shooting that left one man dead and another seriously injured in a northern Quebec village early Monday allegedly occurred after officers answered a call about someone trying to drive while intoxicated.

But Quebec’s police watchdog released few other details on Tuesday about what happened around 4:10 a.m. that morning in Salluit, an Inuit fly-in community about 1,850 kilometres north of Montreal. The oversight agency — Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes — said Nunavik police received a 911 call about someone who was allegedly trying to drive while impaired.

Based on preliminary information, the agency said two officers arrived at the scene a few minutes after the call and had a physical altercation with two men.

The watchdog’s statement didn’t say whether either of the men was armed, but said officers first used an electric-shock weapon and pepper spray in an unsuccessful attempt to subdue them.

An officer then opened fire and hit one of the men, the agency said, adding that when the second man continued to fight, he was also shot by the officer.

Nunavik police say one man died and the second was medically evacuated to a hospital, where the oversight agency says he is stable.

In an email Tuesday, a Nunavik police spokesman declined to comment further on the shooting, citing the investigation by the watchdog.

In a statement released late Monday afternoon, Nunavik authorities said they answered a call for assistance from a Salluit resident and said a police officer had “discharged his service weapon,” wounding two people, one fatally.

Immediately afterward, the force contacted the province’s police watchdog, which investigates the responding police force whenever someone is injured or killed during a police intervention.

A parallel criminal investigation into the events is being conducted by Quebec provincial police.

The oversight agency has dispatched five investigators to attempt to shed more light on what happened, and is asking anyone with information to contact them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press