The RCMP is focusing on two locations following two suspicious deaths overnight Monday.
One of those scenes is on Trails End Road in Hampton where Jamie Cox lives. He said he was returning home at around 12 a.m. Tuesday when he met the police.
“The highway was just covered in cops,” he said.
Cox said he thought it was just a random checkstop at first, but when he tried to turn down his road, the police stopped him to say they were looking for someone who possibly wanted to hurt themselves.
“They didn’t want me going down there just yet,” he said.
It was about three hours later that Cox was able to return home, although he said he didn’t see much of what was happening.
Earlier that night, the RCMP had responded to a 911 call at 11:42 p.m. from a residence on Route 1 in Borden-Carleton where officers found a 27-year-old man dead in the residence.
A woman and two children were in the residence at the time but were unharmed.
An armed man escaped from the residence before the RCMP arrived.
RCMP Sgt. Leanne Butler said a police drone was used to locate the suspect, a 31-year-old man, who was found deceased close to his vehicle in the Hampton area.
Butler said the two deceased men were known to each other and were both from P.E.I.
“We do not believe it was a random act,’’ she said.
“In P.E.I., every death that occurs, until it is proven otherwise, is considered a suspicious death, and that’s how we are treating these,’’ she said.
Butler would not comment on what the relationship may have been between the 27-year-old deceased man and the woman and two children who were in the Borden-Carleton residence.
“For the integrity of the investigation and for compassion to the family, we won’t be releasing that information,’’ she said.
The coroner’s office is tasked with determining the causes of the two deaths. The RCMP is investigating the incident in conjunction with the coroner’s office, noted Butler.
“Well, we have two scenes where we are processing the scenes with our forensic identification unit,’’ she said.
“Our major crime section is investigating. There are two distinct areas where you will see investigators today.’’
Corinne Birch, who lives next door to the scene in Borden-Carleton, says she’s lived there more than 40 years. She said the mobile home has been there around 10 or 12 years, but she didn’t know her neighbours.
During the incident early Tuesday, Birch said she “never heard a thing.”
“It’s a sad thing.”
Nevertheless, Birch says she still feels safe living there.
Meanwhile, at the Trails End Road, seemingly empty cottages line the end of the dirt road up to where investigators worked the scene near the shore.
Cox said all but two houses on the road are empty throughout the winter.
Sitting in his living room while the police worked about half a kilometre away, Cox said he was a little worried about his family at first, but the police seemed pretty calm.
“I felt pretty re-assured,” he said.
Cox said it was a confusing situation.
“It’s just kind of sad,” he said.
The news of the deaths was surprising to some of the patrons at the Tim Hortons in Borden-Carleton, including Doreen Carey who was having coffee with a few of her friends Tuesday morning.
“I was just shocked,” she said.
It was a feeling some of her friends said they shared.
Carey said she is originally from Ontario but has lived in P.E.I. for 16 years, where she finds it safer.
An incident like the one under investigation is shocking to most people.
“It’s just scary,” she said.
