Northman's Fury

It has been a beautiful weekend up here. A bit overcast today, but otherwise a quite pleasant day to take the dog out for a nice little hike of a few hours. As I was heading out onto the land, I see this:


(Click to expand)

People are skating on the ponds! I saw the same thing on a larger pond yesterday, but I didn't bring my camera with me and I figured I'd need some photographic evidence.

It's the middle of October, and the ice here is thick enough to skate on. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Dozens of police officers fanned out across the town of Hay River in the Northwest Territories on Sunday in the search for suspects after the shooting death of an RCMP officer.

. . .

Police said they lost radio contact with Const. Christopher Worden around 5 a.m. local time Saturday while he was responding to a citizen's call for help at a residence. He was found in his car, dying from a gunshot wound.

. . .

Candace Walker, who works in a grocery store and was born and raised in Hay River, said it was strange to see officers with sniper rifles, and planes circling overhead.

I've been following this story with some interest since I have relatives in the community. Police officers getting shot and killed tend to be rare events in Canada, but this is a reminder that even in small towns where people tend to know each other, police work can be dangerous.

UPDATE - October 8th - RCMP have now issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect in the shooting.