A man is dead and another is in custody after a shooting on a small, quiet island off of Nova Scotia’s South Shore.

Lunenburg County RCMP responded to a report of a deceased man on Little Tancook Island shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Police say the body of a 47-year-old Tancook Island man was found in a field. Police say the victim, Terry Green, was shot and his death has been ruled a homicide.

The suspect, a 60-year-old Tancook Island man, was arrested without incident shortly after 10 a.m.

A witness tells CTV News the man was rolling cigarettes while he waited for the Mounties to arrive by ferry.

The suspect arrived by ferry in Chester at 11 a.m. and was placed in the back of an RCMP cruiser.

Police say the incident wasn’t random, as the victim and suspect both lived on the island and knew one another.

Lobster fisherman James Levy says he heard three gunshots before 9 a.m.

“It’s just completely terrible, just like somebody kicked you in the guts as hard as they possible could,” says Levy, who is the suspect’s first cousin.

“There’s two families ruined. Two families are going to suffer for the rest of their lives over this.”

Little Tancook Island is roughly 1.5 kilometres long and about 1 kilometre wide. Only 16 people, including the suspect, live on the island year-round.

Residents are expressing shock over the incident, which has rocked the idyllic island. The RCMP has brought in grief counsellors to help residents cope with the tragedy.

“You know, living here you don’t have a grocery store. You don’t have a store to go to,” says Levy. “You just call somebody and say ‘can you get this for me?’ Can you get that for me?’ Everybody helps everybody out. We have our squabbles, but everybody I guess does.”

Sources tell CTV News that Green lived with the suspect’s daughter, but police have not confirmed that.

“I have no indication there was anything leading up to this incident,” says Staff Sgt. Jean-Guy Richard of Lunenburg County RCMP. “This is not something you would ever expect to happen on Little Tancook Island, for sure.”

There is no word on charges at this time. The incident remains under investigation.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jayson Baxter