Canadian police arrested a 51-year-old gunman on Sunday for allegedly shooting several people in unspecified circumstances.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said gunshots took place in the small Atlantic coastal town of Portapique, about 130 km north of the city of Halifax, the provincial capital of Nova Scotia.
"Gabriel Wortman, suspected in the investigation of the shooting, is now in detention," the police said on Twitter, without saying whether the shooting had injured or killed. Speaking to journalists in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lamented what he called "a terrible situation".
A local resident said she encountered two burning police vehicles while driving on Sunday morning. "There was an officer we could see there, and then suddenly he rushed over to one of the burning vehicles," Darcy Sack told Canadian CBC. "We heard gunshots ," she said, adding that a police officer appeared to have been injured.
Residents of Portapique said the incident started late Saturday night when police urged residents to remain confined. Police said Gabriel Wortman was 51 years old.