By BattlefordsNOW Staff

UPDATE: Big Island Lake Cree Nation incident ends peacefully

Jan 18, 2017 | 10:59 AM

The incident in Big Island Lake Cree Nation resolved peacefully and five suspects are now in custody.

Members from the Pierceland RCMP detachment arrived at a residence on the First Nation at roughly 5:30 a.m. today, Jan. 18. Due to the proximity of the house to the school, classes were cancelled for the day.

With all suspects in custody, police were off the scene by 2 p.m.

Multiple witnesses told meadowlakeNOW that the residents of the house in question were suspected of having criminal ties and possibly involved in gang activity. Pierceland RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Curtis Pelzer couldn’t confirm any gang activity at this time.

“What I can say is we received a complaint where firearms may have been present and of course when firearms are present we have to take every precaution in our response so that’s why there was such a large response,” Pelzer said.

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While five people remain in custody, Pelzer said it doesn’t necessarily mean all may face charges.

“We have some people in custody and they will remain there until we verify exactly what occurred,” he said.

In the takedown, Pierceland RCMP received assistance from Onion Lake, Loon Lake, Meadow Lake, Spiritwood, Big River, Ile-a-La-Crosse and other northwest detachments.

A group of children was led away from the home during the investigation.

Still early in the investigation, Pelzer added more information will be made available in the coming days.

During the incident, residents weren’t asked to evacuate, however if they left they were not permitted to return home.

Colton Swiderski is a news and sports reporter for meadowlakeNOW, paNOW and battlefordsNOW.com. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 3:35 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2017. Commenting on this story is closed.