Ontario Provincial Police have issued an emergency alert asking residents of Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island to stay inside as they search for a person they believe to be “armed and dangerous.”
The OPP say they are looking for 39-year-old Luke Naokeegijig, who is described as a six-foot-one male of average build, with long black hair, brown eyes and a moustache, last seen wearing black jeans and a camouflage sweater.
The provincial police force is asking the public to lock all doors and windows, and notify police of any suspicious persons.
The OPP has not said why they believe the suspect is dangerous.
In a post on the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service’s Facebook page, Chief Scott Cooper says the person the OPP is searching for is not a threat to the public and that the community has been advised to seek shelter as a “safety and cautious measure.”
The Wikwemikong Board of Education said in a Facebook post earlier in the day that its schools had been placed in a “hold and secure” out of an abundance of caution based on advice from the tribal police force, but later deemed the situation safe enough to dismiss all students for the day.