Bradley Beaver wounded two Mounties during a standoffJ.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
A remote Manitoba First Nation has been flooded with RCMP after two men were killed.
More than 20 officers took over the Bloodvein First Nation band office as they probed the deaths of Cliff Malnyk, 52, on Saturday and Timothy Goosehead, 31, on Monday.
Normally, just two Mounties are assigned to the community 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
A 17-year-old youth faces a second-degree murder charge for each of the killings.
A 15-year-old boy is also in custody accused of assault with a weapon in connection with the Malnyk case.
RCMP released few details on the homicides.
Police were working to quell the possibility that vigilante justice might grip the small community of about 1,000 people.
Goosehead had just been released from provincial jail on Jan. 27 after spending 303 days behind bars for assaulting a Bloodvein woman in March, 2013.
His alleged killer was out on bail on breach charges and was being supervised by Manitoba's Intensive Support and Supervision Program.
The youth is affiliated with the Native Syndicate street gang, sources told the Winnipeg Free Press.
Bloodvein Chief Roland Hamilton pointed to poor parenting, a lack of police resources and the presence of alcohol in his community as likely causes for the violence.
"Parents need to step up and start looking after their kids, these things are happening at three, four, five in the morning," he said. "I don't know why these young people are out."
Last year, the community was gripped by a series of major arsons, rattling many who live there.
As of June, police had been called to six confirmed arsons, coming on the heels of 2012, when they investigated eight intentionally set fires.