Man charged with 2 counts of 2nd-degree murder in Tsay Keh Dene

RCMP say one person has been charged in the deaths of two people in a remote B.C. community northwest of Prince George.

Orlan Marcel Dennis was charged with two counts of second-degree murder Friday, police say, following a lengthy standoff in the community of Tsay Keh Dene on April 9.

The Tsay Keh Dene First Nation is located about 360 kilometres north of Prince George, B.C., at the north end of Williston Lake.

The small community is home to about 300 people and is primarily accessed via chartered flights or over several hundred kilometres of logging road, with an estimated drive time of six hours.

The RCMP North District Major Crime Unit is investigating the two deaths, while the Independent Investigations Office is looking into police actions that led to Dennis being injured.

Police said in a statement that at around 10:30 p.m. PT Tuesday a caller told Tsay Keh Dene RCMP there were gunshots at a home, and multiple people were hurt. 

Officers say they went to the property and saw a man with a gun who ran into a nearby home. Police contained him there and negotiators started to talk to the man a few hours later.

The negotiations went on for hours, police said, and an emergency response team (ERT) was brought in. When negotiations deteriorated, ERT deployed "a chemical irritant" into the home.

The man then left the home with a gun, RCMP said. Police shot at him with their firearms and an "extended range impact munition" — described on the RCMP's website as "a less lethal weapon that fires large sponge or silicon-tipped rounds" — inflicting serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The Independent Investigations Office, a civilian oversight body that investigates police incidents leading to serious harm or death, said the man suffered "gunshot-related injuries."

The man, RCMP and the IIO both said, was taken to hospital for treatment.

Police said two people were found dead in the home the man was first seen leaving.