Canadian police search Saskatchewan province for deadly stabbing suspects

Regina, September 5

Canadian police searched across the expansive province of Saskatchewan for two suspects believed to have stabbed to death 10 people in an indigenous community and a nearby town in one of the deadliest mass killings in the country’s history.

The suspects also injured 15 people in the series of knife attacks that led the James Smith Cree Nation to declare a state of emergency and badly shook residents of the nearby village of Weldon.

“No one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They’re going to be terrified to open their door,” said Weldon resident Ruby Works, who was close to one of the victims.

Police, meanwhile, said a vehicle reportedly carrying the two suspects had been spotted in Regina, about 335 km south of the communities where the stabbings occurred.

Regina police chief Evan Bray said late on Sunday they still believed the suspects were in Regina.

“If in the Regina area, take precautions and consider sheltering in place. Do not leave a secure location. Report suspicious persons, emergencies or info to 9-1-1. Do not disclose police locations,” the RCMP said in a message on Twitter.

The suspects were identified as Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30.

“It is horrific what has occurred in our province today,” said Rhonda Blackmore, the Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP in Saskatchewan, adding there were 13 crime scenes where either deceased or injured people were found.

Blackmore said some of the victims appear to have been targeted by the suspects but others appear to have been attacked at random.

She couldn’t provide a motive, but the chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations gave a statement suggesting the stabbings could be drug related.

The elected leaders of the three communities that make up the James Smith Cree Nation, including the Chakastaypasin Band and the Peter Chapman Band, declared a local state of emergency and opened up two emergency operations centres.

“This is the destruction we face when harmful illegal drugs invade our communities, and we demand all authorities to take direction from the Chiefs and Councils and their membership to create safer and healthier communities for our people,” said Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

Doreen Lees, an 89-year-old grandmother from Weldon, said she and her daughter thought they saw one of the suspects when a car came barrelling down her street early in the morning on Sunday as her daughter was having coffee on her deck. Lees said a man approached them and said he was hurt and needed help.

But Lees said the man took off and ran after her daughter said she would call for help.

“He wouldn’t show his face. He had a big jacket over his face. We asked his name and he kind of mumbled his name twice and we still couldn’t get it,” she said. “He said his face was injured so bad he couldn’t show it.” She said the man was by himself and “kind of a little wobbly.”

The Regina Police Service said in a news release that with the help of Mounties, it was working on several fronts to locate and arrest the suspects and had “deployed additional resources for public safety throughout the city, including the football game at Mosaic Stadium”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement he was “shocked and devastated by the horrific attacks.”

“As Canadians, we mourn with everyone affected by this tragic violence, and with the people of Saskatchewan,” Trudeau said.