In Canada, a search for two men who are said to have fatally stabbed 10 people in an Indigenous settlement and a neighbouring town went on Monday.
More than 200 miles from the location of the murder, according to the police, a vehicle believed to be transporting the two suspects was seen.
The guys are also accused of hurting 15 people in the string of stabbings that rocked residents of the neighbouring community of Weldon and prompted the James Smith Cree Nation to declare a state of emergency.
“Nobody will ever sleep in this town again. Ruby Works, a resident of Weldon and a close friend of one of the victims, predicted that they would be scared to answer their door.
In the meanwhile, police claimed that a car purportedly transporting the two suspects had been seen around 210 kilometres south of the places where the stabbings took place. They may be driving a black Nissan Rogue, according to police earlier.
The suspects, according to police chief Evan Bray, are thought to be in Regina, the provincial capital.
On Monday, Bray said in a video broadcast to social media that the suspects were still at large.
A lot of people are grieving. This morning and all day yesterday, there was a lot of worry in our province and in our villages, he remarked.
Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30, were named as the suspects. Police withheld information about them and did not clarify whether the two are linked.
Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan, said, “It is horrific what has happened in our province,” adding that there were 13 locations where either dead or injured people had been discovered.
Damien Sanderson was reported as having 155 pounds and standing 5’7″. According to the police, Myles Sanderson weighs 200 pounds and 6’1″ tall.
Blackmore said that although some of the victims seemed to have been singled out for assault by the accused, other victims appeared to have been victimised at random.
She was unable to provide a reason, but the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations’ head made a statement that implied drugs may have been a factor in the stabbings.
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.
Everyone has been impacted by the awful events, according to Chakastaypasin Chief Calvin Sanderson, who – while not seeming to be linked to the accused – stated.
The victims, according to Sanderson, were “our families, our friends.” It is rather horrifying.
Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said, “This is the destruction we face when harmful illegal drugs invade our communities.
We demand that all authorities take direction from the chiefs and councils and their membership to create safer and healthier communities for our people.
Lana Head, the mother of Michael Brett Burns’ two kids and his ex-partner, was one of the 10 people that died.
Burns told the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, “It’s disgusting how prison time, drugs, and alcohol can wreck many lives. I’m pained by all of these losses.
Myles Sanderson was listed as sought by Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers in May of last year, stating that he was “illegally at large.”
The assault is one of Canada’s bloodiest mass murders in recorded history. In 2020, a guy posing as a police officer carried out the bloodiest gun rampage in American history, shooting people in their houses and starting fires all throughout the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people.
In Toronto in 2019, a person killed 10 people 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 sometimes. 29 people were fatally stabbed and slashed in 2014 at a railway station in Kunming, a city in southwest China.
19 persons lost their lives in a mass stabbing that occurred in 2016 at an institution for the mentally challenged in Sagamihara, Japan.
A year later, three men attacked London Bridge with a car and stabbed eight people to death.
Doreen Lees, an 89-year-old grandmother from Weldon, said that while her daughter was drinking coffee on her veranda early on Sunday, a vehicle sped by and they both believed they spotted one of the suspects.
Lees said a guy came up to them and claimed to be wounded and in need of assistance.
However, according to Lees, the guy fled when her daughter indicated she would phone for assistance.
“He refused to reveal his face. His face was covered by a large jacket. He sort of muttered his name twice when we asked him for it, and we were still unable to understand it, she claimed. “He stated the damage to his face was so severe he couldn’t display it.”
The woman described the guy as being alone and “a bit shaky.”
“I followed him a little distance to make sure he would be OK. Don’t follow him, my daughter pleaded; come back here.
Wes Petterson has been recognised as one of the victims by Weldon locals. The 77-year-old widower, according to Ruby Works, was like an uncle to her.
“I fell to the ground after collapsing. She recalled hearing the news, “I’ve known him since I was only a tiny child,” and continued.
She said that he loved his animals, took great pride in his handmade Saskatoon berry jam, and regularly offered assistance to his neighbours.
“He took no action. He wasn’t entitled to this. He was a kind, compassionate guy,” Works added.
Robert Rush, a local of Weldon, said that the victim was a kind-hearted widower in his 70s.
He said, “He wouldn’t harm a fly.”
Rush said that Petterson’s grown grandson called the police while he was in the basement at the time.
The normal Sunday service at the Weldon Christian Tabernacle Church started with a special prayer for the victims and their families.
At the James Smith Cree Nation, a convenience store that also doubles as a petrol station turned into a meeting spot for locals who exchanged embraces and cries of joy.
We shall be closed till further notice due to safety concerns with our neighbourhood, said a sign on the entrance.
The hunt for the suspects was conducted as spectators flocked to Regina for the annual Labor Day game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, which was also packed out.
In a press statement, the Regina Police Service said that it was collaborating with Mounties and working on many fronts to find and apprehend the suspects.
“Then expanded its public safety efforts to include the whole city, including the football game at Mosaic Stadium.
At 5:40 on Sunday morning, reports to the police concerning stabbings started to come in. As the two suspects remained at large, the alert that was initially issued by Melfort, Saskatchewan, RCMP around 7 a.m. was later expanded to include Manitoba and Alberta.
According to the Saskatchewan Health Authority, several individuals were receiving care at various locations.
In response to the rush of victims, “a need for more employees was made,” authority spokeswoman Anne Linemann said in an email.
In a statement, Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, expressed his shock and sorrow at the awful assaults.
Trudeau added, “We grieve with the people of Saskatchewan and with all those impacted by this horrific murder.
In remembrance of the deaths, Trudeau said on Monday that the flag at the Peace Tower in the Canadian parliament complex in Ottawa would fly at half-staff.