TORONTO – Canadian police said Wednesday they had arrested fugitive stabbing suspect Myles Sanderson after a four-day manhunt that put the province of Saskatchewan on edge.
Sanderson, 32, and his brother, Damien, 31, were charged with murder in the stabbing attacks on the James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby village of Weldon on Sunday that killed 10 people and injured 18 in one of Canada’s deadliest mass murders. Damien Sanderson was found dead Monday on the James Smith Cree Nation with injuries that authorities said did not appear to be self-inflicted.
“Myles Sanderson was located and taken into police custody near Rosthern, [Saskatchewan] at approximately 3:30 p.m. today,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Saskatchewan said in a statement. “There is no longer a public safety risk related to this investigation.”
Family members celebrate loved ones, describe horror of stabbings
Rosthern is about 80 miles southwest of the James Smith Cree Nation, where the killings began Sunday morning. Police received the first call at 5:40 a.m., then many more, about stabbings on the Indian reservation. By the end of the day, the carnage mapped out 13 different crime scenes.
The victims, whose identities were released Wednesday, ranged in age from 23 to 78. All but one were from the Cree Nation of James Smith. They include a mother who died protecting her children, an addictions counselor responding to an emergency call and a Canadian military veteran.
“It’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of a lot of people who are in custody,” Randy Hoback, a Canadian lawmaker who represents the part of Saskatchewan where the killings took place, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “I think a lot of people are breathing a huge sigh of relief and will sleep a lot better tonight.”
Mark Arcand, whose half-sister Bonnie Burns was stabbed in Saskatchewan, Canada, said she was killed by “senseless acts” at a Sept. 7 news conference. (Video: AP)
After the stabbings, police said they believed Sanderson was in Regina, the provincial capital. On Tuesday, they converged on the James Smith Cree Nation after reports of sightings there and urged residents to seek shelter.
But they later determined he wasn’t there and said his whereabouts were unknown.
On Wednesday afternoon, police issued an emergency alert for Wakaw, a community about 20 miles east of Rosthern, after reports of a knife-wielding man driving a stolen Chevrolet Avalanche. They said they believed it might be connected to the mass stabbing.
Sanderson was arrested on the side of a road. The video broadcast by the CBC showed the avalanche surrounded by police vehicles.
Police have not identified a motive for the murders.
Since Sanderson was named as a suspect in Sunday’s attacks, Canadians have asked why a man with 59 convictions as an adult and a violent criminal record spanning nearly two decades was on the street.
Police had been looking for him since May, when he was declared “unlawfully at large” after failing to report to his probation officer.
He was serving a four-year, four-month sentence for charges that included assault, robbery and other episodes of violence, including when he stabbed two people with a fork, beat a man unconscious and repeatedly hit a man in the head police officer, according to Parole Board of Canada records obtained by The Washington Post.
Records say Sanderson began using drugs and alcohol when he was 12 and grew up in an environment where physical abuse and domestic violence were common. According to records, Sanderson had said he was easily angered when drunk and a “different” person when sober.
He was granted statutory release in August 2021. Canadian law requires some federal offenders who have served two-thirds of their sentences to be released from prison and placed under direct supervision in their communities.
Sanderson’s statutory release was revoked in November after he was not honest with his parole supervisor about living with an ex-spouse, in violation of the terms of his statutory release.
“Your parole supervisor assessed that this situation indicated that you are in your cycle of domestic violence and that your risk was no longer manageable in the community,” the board wrote.
The board lifted the suspension in February, writing that it “would not present an undue risk” to the public.
“Going forward, you must be honest and open with your probation supervisor,” he wrote.
Marco Mendicino, Canada’s public safety minister, said this week that the board plans to review its decision.