A village on the northern British Columbia archipelago of Haida Gwaii is on edge after an axe-wielding man was taken into police custody last week and released pending a court appearance in October.
Darin Swanson, a 60-year-old hereditary chief of the Haida Nation, says he and his son tackled the man to the ground Thursday night near Masset after the man started swinging the axe at them, smashing the windows of their pickup truck and threatening to kill their family.
“We’ve been dealing with this guy for like seven years,” Swanson said in an interview Monday following the seemingly unprovoked altercation. “If you talk to any community member on this island, they’ll have a story about him.”
“We’ve had interactions with him going back, I think, five years now,” said Darren Macleod, another Masset resident with a history of interactions with the accused.
Macleod says the accused has verbally harassed him, spat on him and tailgated him. CTV News is not naming the accused because he hasn’t been charged in this case.
“I look over my shoulder in my own yard,” said Macleod. “I don’t wear earmuffs when I’m using my blower, because I don’t want him to fly out of the bushes behind me and surprise me. It’s constant.”
Macleod says the accused has harassed many people in Masset through the years.
According to court records, the accused has faced multiple charges in recent years, ranging from uttering threats to breaching probation and assault.
“We’re already scared to death,” said Susie Compeau, Macleod’s wife.
“The only time we’ve ever felt 100 per cent safe is when we know he’s in jail.”
Cpl. Brett Urano says the RCMP will be “recommending multiple charges against the man” after the latest incident, which he referred to in a statement as a “dynamic event.”
Mounties confirmed they were initially called to a report of a serious assault with a weapon, and arrived to find that the suspect had already been restrained by two people.
“We both sat on him until the police came,” Swanson said. “I helped her handcuff him, and she’s leading him to the car and he says, ‘I’m going to kill you and your whole family. I’ll be out tomorrow morning.’”
Following the arrest, the suspect was taken to hospital and subsequently released on “strict conditions” pending a court appearance scheduled for next month, the RCMP statement said.
Swanson says the community is frustrated and fearful after repeated altercations involving the same suspect.
“My son was just millimetres away from having his brains bashed in,” he said of the latest incident.
“It’s typical catch and release, catch and release,” Swanson said, adding that he did not go to sleep until 4 a.m. following the violent outburst.
“Is this guy going to sneak out and try to burn my house down? Who knows?” he speculated, adding that he has since acquired firearms and installed security cameras at his home.
“It’s really frustrating to live in a society like this,” he added. “I’ll tell you one thing: you’re on your own.”
Swanson has written a letter to Crown counsel and has reached out to local government leaders to demand justice.
Police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident and has not spoken to an investigator to contact the Masset RCMP at 250-626-3991.
With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kevin Charach