After a four day search, the second man in a horrific stabbing spree on a Canadian indigenous reserve has been apprehended.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that Myles Sanderson, who was the subject of a huge search throughout the province of Saskatchewan, was captured on Wednesday afternoon close to Rosthern.
“This probe no longer poses a threat to the public’s safety.” Updates to follow,’ a spokeswoman for the RCMP said in a statement.
In the Sunday slaughter on the James Smith Cree Nation reserve, which left 10 people dead and 18 wounded, Sanderson, 30, was the sole suspect still at free.
Damien Sanderson, who was allegedly Sanderson’s collaborator in the slaughter, was discovered dead on Monday from injuries that police believe were not likely self-inflicted.
According to the RCMP, they are investigating the possibility that Damien’s brother murdered him.
An RCMP spokeswoman stated, “It is an investigation path that we are following up on, but we can’t say that absolutely at this moment.”
On a Canadian indigenous reserve, 10 people were brutally stabbed. All ten fatalities have been identified.
The victims were Lana Head, 49, a mother of two; Christian Head, 54; Gregory Burns, 28; Gregory’s aunt Gloria Lydia Burns, 61; Bonnie Burns, 48; Thomas Burns, 23; Carol Burns, 46; Earl Burns, a veteran of the Canadian military; Robert Sanderson, 49; and Wesley Patterson, 77. Gloria Lydia Burns was an addictions counsellor who was killed while responding to an emergency stabbing call.
One of the worst assaults in modern Canadian history, some of the victims looked to have been targeted while others appeared to have been victims of random acts.
The first casualties recognised were a mother of two, a 77-year-old widower, a first responder, and a 14-year-old boy.
The brothers and sisters, who were characterised as being armed and violent, are the prime suspects in assaults that took place on the James Smith Cree Nation on Sunday afternoon and injured 29 people in 13 separate places.
Since May, when he stopped attending his parole officer’s required court visits, Myles Sanderson has been on the run.
According to Regina police chief Evan Bray, he vanished while on parole following a five year term for assault, robbery, mischief, and making threats.
He was accused of breaking and entering as well as three charges of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and one case of attempted murder.
Prior charges against Damien Sanderson included one case of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and one offence of breaking and entering. Police have now verified that he has been discovered deceased, however.
We’re aware. We are certain that someone out there is aware of these two’s locations and is in possession of information that the police would find useful. “I strongly advise you to contact your neighbourhood police department.”
The Nissan Rogue SUV, which was seen 200 miles south of the native reserve, was used by the brothers to flee.
‘This is my brothers’ car that they stole when they invaded our house this morning in James Smith Cree Nation,’ a woman shared on Facebook, according to SkyNews Canada.
We “couldn’t care less” about the automobile as long as these beasts are captured.
Northeast of the city of Saskatoon, on the indigenous reserve and in the adjoining community of Weldon, the brothers are said to have stabbed the victims at 13 different locations.
A police alert and search spanned a wide area almost the size of Europe from Saskatchewan to the neighbouring provinces of Manitoba and Alberta.
In light of the revelation that Myles was identified by police as being “illegally at large” in May, the head of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations claimed that the stabbings may have been drug-related.
The devastated neighbourhood recognised Lana Head, a mother of two girls, as one of the victims of the assault and said that she perished with her unidentified boyfriend.
Locals identified 77-year-old widower Wes Petterson as the second victim.
The armed suspects are believed to have left the area after the frantic stabbing in the Nissan, which was later discovered in Regina, approximately 208 miles south of the villages where the stabbings took place, according to police.
Some of the victims, according to Blackmore, Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, seem to have been targeted by the perpetrators, while other victims appear to have been assaulted randomly.
In James Smith Cree Nation, a thinly populated indigenous community of roughly 3,400 people who mostly work in farming, hunting, and fishing, the first stabbings were recorded at 5.40 in the morning.
200 people live in the settlement of Weldon.
A province-wide notice for dangerous people was issued by police three hours after the stabbings.
Similar advisories were also sent out in Saskatchewan’s bordering provinces of Manitoba and Alberta by Sunday afternoon.
Two emergency operations centres were established by the elected officials of the Chakastaypasin Band and the Peter Chapman Band, two of the three communities that make up the James Smith Cree Nation.
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, a body that speaks for 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan, Chief Bobby Cameron, suggested the stabbings may have been caused by drug use.
We urge that all authorities follow the guidance of the Chiefs and Councils and their membership in order to build safer and healthier communities for our people. “This is the destruction we face when hazardous illegal substances penetrate our communities,” Cameron stated.
The attacker who killed Lana Head’s ex-partner also implied that drugs and alcohol may have played a role in the crime.
It’s horrible how prison time, drugs, and alcohol can wreck many lives, said Michael Brett Burns, who has two kids with Head, to the Aboriginal People’s Television Network.
“I’m hurt by all this loss,” I said.
Earlier, Burns posted a tribute to his ex-girlfriend on Facebook, saying: “You will be missed deeply Lana.” I’m grateful for your lovely daughters and grandkids.
The following message was posted on Facebook by a friend in honour of Head: “I love you and say prayers for your children, grandchildren, and family.” I will miss your kind greetings and messages. I shall always treasure your kind nature and compassionate methods.
Wes Petterson, the second victim identified, was compared to an uncle by Ruby Works.
I fell to the ground after collapsing. She recalled hearing the news and saying, “I’ve known him since I was only a tiny girl.
She claimed that he cherished his animals, took great pride in his homemade Saskatoon berry jam, and frequently offered assistance to his neighbours.
“He took no action.” He wasn’t entitled to this. He was a good, compassionate man, according to Works.
Robert Rush, a local of Weldon, described Petterson as a kind, widower man in his 70s. He claimed, “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
According to Rush, Petterson’s grown-up grandson was in the basement when the stabbing occurred and called the police.
All people have been impacted by the unfortunate occurrences, according to Chakastaypasin Chief Calvin Sanderson, who is not related to the accused.
The victims were “our relatives, our friends,” according to Sanderson. It’s really horrible,
Less than 5% of Canada’s population, or roughly 38 million people, are indigenous, and they experience higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and shorter life expectancies than other Canadians.
The attacks in Saskatchewan today are awful and heartbreaking, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Both those who have lost a loved one and those who have been hurt are on my mind.
We are closely watching the situation, and we urge everyone to be informed by paying attention to local authorities’ reports, he added.
Thank you to all the courageous first responders who worked on the scene.
In 2020, a man posing as a police officer carried out the bloodiest gun spree in Canadian history, murdering 22 people while opening fire across the province of Nova Scotia and shooting people inside their houses.
In Toronto in 2019, a man killed 10 pedestrians while driving a van. However, mass murders are less frequent in Canada than they are in the US.
Although deadly mass stabbings are less common than mass shootings, they do occur occasionally.
29 people were fatally stabbed and slashed in 2014 at a train station in Kunming, a city in southwest China.
19 persons lost their lives in a mass stabbing that occurred in 2016 at a facility for the mentally challenged in Sagamihara, Japan.
A year later, three men attacked London Bridge with a car and stabbed eight people to death.