A Watson Lake resident accused of shooting another man in that community will make his first appearance in a Whitehorse courtroom Friday morning.

Edward (Bruce) Mason, 64, is set to be back in court tomorrow on a charge of second-degree murder.

He's also charged with using a firearm in the commission of an offence as well as possessing a firearm while prohibited.

Both Mason and the man he's charged with shooting, 43-year-old Germaine Arthur Gaulin, had lived in Watson Lake for a number of years.

'It's kind of sad,' Watson Lake Mayor Richard Durocher said in an interview this morning. He knows both men, particularly Mason, who he's known for more than 20 years.

'They're both good people.'

Mason, called a jack-of-all-trades, has done some work for a diamond drilling company as well as running his own trapline, said the mayor.

Durocher said Gaulin has lived in the community for at least a half-decade.

Gaulin had done construction and logging in the past, and had been working as a bartender at the Upper Liard Lodge at the time he was killed.

It's likely the two knew each other from both hanging around the Upper Liard Lodge bar, Durocher said.

An Upper Liard-area resident, the Frenchman was the sort to keep to himself, another local resident said.

Watson Lake RCMP were notified at 2:05 a.m. Tuesday that a shooting had taken place at a remote cabin approximately 25 kilometres northwest of the town.

Mason has stayed at the cabin quite a bit, but it's not known who owns it.

Within two hours of the initial report, the RCMP's tactical unit was called up. The Emergency Response Team was deployed to Watson Lake by RCMP aircraft, and negotiators, the police service dog and forensic identification officers also headed south.

After securing the area around the cabin, a lone male came out and surrendered without incident, police said.

No further information about the shooting will be released at this time, Yukon RCMP spokesman Sgt. Guy Rook said this morning, citing the ongoing investigation.

Mason was arrested and taken into custody, where he's been ever since.

Gaulin's body was confirmed to be inside the cabin.

The Yukon coroner's office has ordered an autopsy to be conducted to determine how Gaulin died.