NT Police have deployed the Territory Response Group to the remote community of Peppimenarti following a man being shot and killed with a crossbow amid rising tensions in the community.

Details were scarce on Wednesday morning, but multiple sources told the NT Independent the death is connected to ongoing community tensions, similar to ongoing tensions in nearby Wadeye, that had seen hundreds of people displaced and the town described as a “humanitarian situation” earlier this year.

NT Police confirmed in early afternoon that they had deployed TRG members to the dangerous situation in Peppimenarti, which they claimed in a statement on Tuesday afternoon would be used “in a support capacity” for other officers sent to the community, including four detectives from Major Crime and two crime scene investigators.

It is expected the officers will stay in the community for a number of days.

Police said they were notified that a male had been “struck in the chest with an arrow” shortly before midnight Tuesday.

The 36-year-old was taken to the clinic and declared deceased.

“An 18-year-old male is assisting police with inquiries,” the police said on Wednesday.

“Detectives from Crime Command have begun investigations into the circumstances of the man’s death.

“Police are working with elders, the local council and other government agencies to maintain community safety.”

On Thursday, police said the 18-year-old has been charged with manslaughter.

In early June, NT Police released a statement about a man being charged for going armed in public and discharging a firearm, which he allegedly shot in the air after a disagreement with another man, but the police media unit refused to disclose what community that occurred in, only stating it was an Aboriginal community in the West Daly region.

The ABC reported in June 2021 that violence in the community had escalated with pleas from community members for the police and government agencies to help restore peace.

Prominent Aboriginal artist Regina Wilson told the ABC last year that she was afraid for the safety of children in the community after 14 men had come to her house to throw axes at her family members.

The violence was reported as part of an ongoing feud between different families in Peppimenarti that was sparked in 2019 after another young man was shot in the chest with an arrow.

Residents had kept their children home from school at the time, afraid for their safety, with cars set on fire and homes ransacked.

It is expected police will provide more details about the death of the man that occurred last night later today.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the government had been providing “cross-government resources” into the region “over some time”, but apparently was not asked about how effective that had been.

“More broadly in the West Daly, an area that has seen unprecedented levels of community disruption of late, there has been significant investment and government work,” she said.