Police have asked people to avoid the Ginoogaming First Nation area and community members to shelter in place while they search for two armed and dangerous individuals who are at large.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Anishinabek Police Service (APS) are responding, according to an OPP news release from Wednesday around 6 a.m. ET.
The two suspects are described as black men. OPP said one is taller than the other, and the taller man is wearing all-gray joggers and has his hair braided. The shorter man is wearing black pants and black shoes.
People on Ginoogaming are advised to seek shelter inside a building or other safe place. Once inside, police said to close all doors and windows and draw the curtains.
The public is asked to call 911 immediately if they see the suspects and not to approach them.
Bill Dickson, OPP media relations coordinator, said “a large number of OPP and Anishinabek Police Service officers are on the ground searching for these two individuals.”
“At this time, we do not have them in custody,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “We are calling on everyone in the immediate area to continue sheltering in place.”
“If you are driving in the area, please do not stop or pick up hitchhikers or anyone who sees anyone matching the descriptions we have posted. [should] call 911 immediately.”
Dickson said the OPP has deployed numerous resources, including frontline officers, the Emergency Response Team, members of the Tactics and Rescue Unit and the aviation unit.
“We totally realized that when one of these intrusive alerts comes on your radio, your phone, your television, you start hearing about people potentially running around with firearms in the community, it’s very stressful,” Dickson said. “That’s why we want to assure everyone that we are allocating every potential resource we need to get there, find these people and return the community to safety.”
Dickson said the search began after police responded to reports of shots fired in the area shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday.
No further details are available about the people wanted or why they are in the area.
“Until we locate these guys, we can’t speculate on who they are or why they were in the community,” Dickson said.
Matthew Donovan, deputy mayor of Greenstone and councilor for Nakina Ward, said there are “a lot of concerned people” in the borough.
“We understand this may be stressful for the public and we are certainly grateful and appreciate your cooperation in this situation,” he told CBC News on Wednesday.
He said the situation is not something Greenstone people are used to.
“It’s certainly a dose of the outside world,” he said. “It’s not something we’re used to experiencing this way.”
“It’s a bit of cold water in the face, that the rest of the world might be experiencing this a little more than we are.”
Donovan encouraged people to follow OPP and APS directives and stay as informed as possible through social media.
“And the city, of course, is here to help in any way necessary,” Donovan said.
Some services, school closed.
Greenstone Township closed some services Wednesday. These include the Friends of the North daycare center, the senior center and the Longlac municipal office, the municipality said in a Facebook post.
The OPP also said all public and Catholic primary schools in Longlac and Long Lake #58 First Nation are closed.
In a Facebook post at 7:30 a.m., Geraldton Composite High School said it remained open. “Out of an abundance of caution and in consultation with local authorities, transportation involving Longlac and Ginoogaming students is canceled for today,” the post said.
BA Parker Public School in Geraldton told CBC it was still open Wednesday.
Confederation College’s Longlac campus will also be closed for the day, OPP said.
In an update Wednesday morning, the OPP said an emergency alert issued for the town of Manitouwadge has been lifted.
Ginoogaming First Nation is just south of Longlac, approximately 300km northeast of Thunder Bay.
Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
