One man is dead and another is in custody following Arviat's first homicide in more than a decade.
Police say Manasie Thompson, 29, was found dead on Tuesday, Feb. 19.
Albert Napayok, 30, faces murder charges.
Arviat Mayor Bob Leonard said the mood in the community has been pretty somber in the days following the death.
Few people expect anything like this to happen in such a close-knit community, he said.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have this kind of thing happen very often, so it's a shock,鈥� said Leonard.
鈥淲e really don鈥檛 have the whole story yet on exactly what happened, so everybody鈥檚 waiting to hear what the final version of events actually is.鈥�
Further information from the RCMP was not available as of press time.
Leonard said he hadn鈥檛 heard anything concerning outside support for the community, such as grief counsellors.
He said an RCMP officer from Calgary arrived in the community late Feb. 20 to help out with the investigation being conducted by the Nunavut Major Crime Unit.
鈥淭his morning (Friday, Feb. 21), they shipped Manasie鈥檚 body out for an autopsy, as I understand it.
鈥淲e work hard to try and have a community where everybody gets along and respects each other.
鈥淲e work on that kind of thing all the time.
鈥淚n a situation like this, there鈥檚 a whole lot of hugging and holding going on in the community and I don鈥檛 know what else we (hamlet council) could do to help ease the shock and pain of it all.鈥�
Leonard said there鈥檚 been little discussion going on in the community concerning Thompson鈥檚 death.
He said that鈥檚 fairly common for Arviat.
鈥淧eople are being respectful and giving the families involved a chance to come to grips with the situation.鈥�
