Quebec’s coroner has released the name of the man shot by police in Umiujaq, Nunavik in late December.
David Sappa, 22, was shot by officers with the Kativik Regional Police on Dec. 28.
Umiujaq, Nunavik is a small community on the eastern shores of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec.
According to a release sent by Quebec’s Bureau of Independent Investigation, an agency that investigates injuries and deaths that occur during police intervention, officers arrived at the man’s house earlier in the day to take him into custody.
The bureau alleges this is what transpired:
• The police went to the individual’s home to arrest him;
• When they arrived, the man would have refused to follow them;
• One officer would have remained while another would have gone to the station to obtain an entry warrant;
• During his absence, the man would have left his home armed with knives and proceeded to the community center where activities were taking place;
• Police officers tried to prevent him from entering;
• The man would have turned back to the police and gone down towards them;
• The police then shot.
Sappa was transported to the clinic where he died.
The bureau said it continues to review the circumstances surrounding this event.
The BII is also investigating how a 24-year old man died after being locked in a jail cell in the Cree community of Waskaganish, 1055 km northwest of Montreal on the shores of James Bay.
According to a statement released by the Eeyou Eenou Police, officers were called to a residence in the community at around 1 p.m. on Mon. Jan., 1 and found Brandon Stephen, a father of two, intoxicated and threatening to harm himself.
Police said he was then taken into custody.
(On November 16, Stephen wrote ‘Keep your head up even thou you feel like giving up’ on his Facebook page)
According to police, Stephen was up and moving in his cell but at about 11 p.m. he informed guards that he wasn’t feeling well.
He was then transferred to the medical clinic in the community where he died at around 3 a.m.
The release states that investigators arrived in Waskaganish on Tuesday and have started an investigation.
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