Man charged with first-degree murder in Vancouver Island killing

Officers with the Vancouver Island Emergency Response Team conduct training in 2017. (CTV News)

A young man has been charged with first-degree murder after police were called to investigate a suspicious death on Vancouver Island over the weekend.

Mounties responded to a home on the Ditidaht First Nation, west of Cowichan Lake, just before 7 a.m. Saturday, where one man was found dead.

An emergency response team was dispatched to the area and took one suspect into custody without incident a short time later, the local RCMP detachment said in a statement Tuesday.

The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit took conduct of the investigation before police announced the suspect had been charged Tuesday.

Court records show Derian Wolf Paige Tate, born in 2000, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder. He was scheduled to appear by video in a Port Alberni courtroom Tuesday.

"The investigation remains ongoing and no further information will be released at this time," B.C. RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Kris Clark said in the statement.

While the situation was unfolding Saturday, the Lake Cowichan RCMP released a statement saying investigators "believe this to be an isolated incident and do not feel there is any further risk to the general public."

Tate's next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 8.