North

Downtown Yellowknife death under investigation

The N.W.T. coroner's office has ordered an autopsy in the case of a male person who was found lying on the ground in downtown Yellowknife on Tuesday.

The Northwest Territories coroner's office has ordered an autopsy in the case of a male person who was found lying on the ground in downtown Yellowknife on Tuesday.

Police tape cordons off an alley in downtown Yellowknife on Tuesday evening. ((CBC))

Police say they found an unresponsive person on the ground near 48th Street and 51st Avenue shortly after 4 p.m. MT.

The male was transported by ambulance to Stanton Territorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

RCMP said Wednesday that they would not release the deceased person's name or age at the family's request.

The N.W.T. coroner's office has ordered a post-mortem examination of the deceased person's body in Edmonton, according to a news release.

The alley behind the Boston Pizza restaurant was cordoned off for much of Tuesday evening. Officers were seen knocking on the doors of nearby homes.

Residents and business owners in the area told CBC News they did not see anything unusual at the time.

Counsellors brought to school

The deceased had connections with students and staff at École St. Patrick High School, but Yellowknife Catholic Schools would not confirm if he was a student.

The Catholic school board did bring a crisis response team into the high school on Wednesday to provide counselling for those who knew the deceased, superintendent Claudia Parker told CBC News.

"One of the things [that happens] when a situation like this takes place is that there are many different feelings that arise. It can be grief, upset, anger," Parker said.

"There are situations that other students may have gone through recently, like deaths in their family, that this may trigger grief coming back to them. So there's all types of different situations that the counselors would have to deal with."