Person found dead inside tent at Kingston's Belle Park - Action News
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Person found dead inside tent at Kingston's Belle Park

Kingston police say a person was found dead inside a tent Thursday evening the third reported death of an unhoused person this month in the region.

3rd reported death of unhoused person in region this month

Yellow police tape is in the foreground of a photo showing what appears to be a collapsed tent and tarp in a wooded area.
Kingston police say an investigation is underway after a body was found at a tent in Belle Park on the evening of Nov. 16, 2023. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

Kingston police say a person was found dead inside a tent Thursday evening the third reporteddeath of an unhoused person this month in the region.

According to a police spokesperson, officers responded to the area of Belle Park at about 7 p.m. for reports of a deceased person.

Police have not releasedthe person's identity. Ontario's chief coroner's office is investigatingwith police assisting.

In an emailed statement, Const. Anthony Colangeli said there's no risk to public safety.

Police tape was wrapped around a wooded section of the park Friday morning, surrounding what appeared to be a collapsed tent and a tarp.

Personal belongings could be seen scattered around the area, some of which were in a green shopping cart.

Encampment in wooded area with tents and garbage
A body was found inside a tent at Belle Park in Kingston, Ont., on Thursday evening. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and this was the scene on Friday morning. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

CBC spoke with a manstaying in a makeshift shelter nearby and has agreed not to publish his name due to personal safety concerns.

He said thepersonstaying in the tent now ringed with police tape, was a man who arrived a few weeks ago, describing him as a "quiet, gentle" individual who kept to himself.

Staff atthe Integrated Care Hub (ICH), a shelter that also houses a supervised injection site nearby, had a similar impression.

Other encampment residents alerted them about the death, according toGilles Charette,executive director ofTrellis HIV & Community Care,one of the organizations that runs the hub.

The person who died was "unknown toICH staff was not known to have accessed ICH services," he wrote in an email.

A shopping cart packed with bags and personal items is shown surrounded by trees. In the foreground is yellow police tape warning people not to cross into a crime scene.
A shopping cart is seen next to a collapsed tent in Kingston's Belle Park on Nov. 17, 2023. Police say a body was found inside a tent at the encampment the previous evening. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

A spokesperson for the County of Frontenac said a paramedic was on duty at the hub Thursday nightand responded to the call, but found the person deceased, so didn't treatthem or transport them to hospital.

The encampment resident CBC spoke with compared what happened toa"scary movie."

"Last night, it was a lot ofcrying," he said.

The death in Belle Park happened the same dayaman wasfoundby a friend at a homeless encampment near Robert-Guertin Centre in Gatineau, Que.

The man in Gatineau was pronounced dead at the sceneand the death remains under investigation.

Earlier this month,67-year-old Diane Hebertwas also found dead inside her tent in Cornwall, Ont.

With files from Dan Taekema