Halifax Regional Police are investigating the death of a man in Dartmouth who was found in a tent in a designated encampment site.
Officers responded just before 4:30 p.m. on Thursday to the Geary Street area. Police say they found a 56-year-old man who was deceased inside a tent.
“The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service is conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The investigation is in the early stages and no further information is available at this time,” Halifax Regional Police wrote in a Friday release.
The Geary Street location is one of five current designated outdoor sheltering locations in the municipality. According to HRM, the proposed occupancy is eight tents.
A resident of the encampment, who spoke to Global News on the condition of anonymity, said the man who died had not been sleeping in a proper tent. Instead, the resident said the man was sleeping on what was left of an old tent and covering himself in tarps.
“The morale’s pretty low. It’s Christmas, somebody just died. It sucks, I mean I’m sure it could have been prevented,” the resident said.
“I mean, this guy had no tent.”
The municipality declined to comment citing an ongoing investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Halifax Regional Police.
— with a file from Global News’ Ella MacDonald