Latest updates as of 10:30 PM ET/8:30 PM CT:
- RCMP have confirmed that Myles Sanderson suffered medical problems after being arrested near Rosthern, Sask., and was pronounced dead at hospital.
- No other details were released about how Sanderson died. Autopsy results will not be released, officials added, citing the ongoing investigation.
- A knife was found inside the vehicle Sanderson was driving when he was arrested, but no accomplices were with him.
Saskatchewan RCMP on Wednesday confirmed the capture of Myles Sanderson, a suspect in one of the worst mass murders in Canadian history, after an intense four-day manhunt that drew national and international attention.
Police later confirmed that Sanderson was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after he was arrested. Global News first reported Sanderson’s death citing multiple police sources, who believed he died of self-inflicted wounds, which the RCMP did not confirm.
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“This evening, our province can breathe a sigh of relief,” Saskatchewan RCMP Commander Rhonda Blackmore said Wednesday night.
Sanderson, who was facing several charges related to a series of fatal stabbings on Sunday, was arrested around 3:30 p.m. local time near Rosthern, a town north of Saskatoon and more than 100 kilometers southwest of of James Smith’s Cree Nation, where many of the attacks took place.
Saskatchewan RCMP at the scene near Rosthern, Sask., where Myles Sanderson was captured. Global News/ Tanner Chubey
Multiple law enforcement sources told Global News police used a “pursuit intervention technique” — ramming Sanderson’s vehicle on the side and forcing him off the road.
Blackmore said the vehicle was “driven off the road and into a nearby ditch” where officers were able to identify Sanderson as the driver. A knife was found inside the vehicle after he was arrested.
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“Shortly after his arrest, he went into medical trouble,” Blackmore said, and “every life-saving measure that we are capable of was taken,” including CPR. He was taken by ambulance to a Saskatoon hospital where he was pronounced dead, she added.
The Saskatchewan RCMP has requested an independent investigation into Sanderson’s arrest and death. The results of an upcoming autopsy will not be released, the RCMP said, citing the ongoing investigation.
An emergency alert was issued Wednesday afternoon saying an individual possibly connected to the stabbings was seen driving in the Wakaw area in a white 2008 Chevy Avalanche, which was reported stolen from the city . Wakaw is less than 50 kilometers east of Rosthern.
Blackmore said an RCMP officer saw the pickup speeding through Rosthern shortly before he was spotted on the road outside of town, where he was arrested.
Videos captured from the scene of the demolition showed a white pickup truck on the side of the road, surrounded by about a dozen RCMP vehicles as a helicopter hovered overhead.
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0:48 Saskatchewan stabbings: Police cars surround Myles Sanderson during arrest, video shows Saskatchewan stabbings: Police cars surround Myles Sanderson during arrest, video shows
Read more: Saskatchewan stabbings: What happened during 4 days of manhunt
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Saskatchewan stabbings: What happened during 4 days of manhunt
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The RCMP said Monday that Sanderson was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of breaking and entering into a residence in connection with the stabbings.
Ten people died and 18 others were injured at the scene of the 13 crime scenes in the Cree Nation of James Smith and the nearby village of Weldon.
Damien Sanderson, Myles’ brother and also considered a suspect in the attacks, was later found dead at the reservation with injuries that police said were not believed to be self-inflicted, suggesting he may have been attacked by Myles . Damien had also been charged.
Before his death was reported, relatives of the victims expressed relief that Sanderson had been caught.
“Now people can start to feel safe again, but now is also the time to start healing,” said Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand, who lost his sister and nephew in the attacks
Blackmore said he hoped the families could “rest easy tonight knowing that Myles Sanderson is no longer a threat to them,” but acknowledged that the survivors had a “very long and extensive healing process.”
“Some of them have witnessed incredible trauma, so hopefully this is the first step for them to begin that healing process, that grieving process,” he said.
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Police and investigators are seen on the side of the road outside Rosthern, Sask., Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. RCMP say Myles Sanderson, a suspect in a fatal stabbing northeast of Saskatoon over the weekend, has been arrested. near the town of Rosthern on the fourth day of a massive manhunt. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kelly Geraldine Malone. DPi
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said Wednesday that 10 people were still in hospital with injuries, two in critical condition.
Myles Sanderson’s arrest came after an expansive manhunt that brought in additional resources from neighboring Alberta and Manitoba. A dangerous person alert covering Saskatchewan was expanded to those provinces because of fears Sanderson may have fled there.
Blackmore said more than 160 officers from the three provincial RCMP detachments, as well as local police forces, were involved in the investigation. More than 120 interviews have been conducted with witnesses and victims, he added.
“The magnitude of this research is immense,” he said.
Early tips placed the fugitives in Regina, prompting local police to sweep across the city over the Labor Day holiday weekend, including a sold-out Saskatchewan Roughriders game.
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A reported sighting of Sanderson on the James Smith Cree Nation on Tuesday prompted a three-and-a-half-hour police operation that shut down the entire reservation as officers searched for him, only to come up empty.
Read more: Saskatchewan stabbings: Here are the names of all the victims of the tragedy
Myles was wanted for being unlawfully at large before the stabbings, according to Crime Stoppers. Global News reported Monday that the Parole Board of Canada found in February that Myles would not “pose an undue risk” and releasing him would “contribute to the protection of society” by facilitating his reintegration. He had a long criminal record.
The stabbings and subsequent manhunt sent shockwaves across Saskatchewan and the rest of the country, with flags on provincial and federal buildings lowered to half-mast in honor of the victims.
World leaders also condemned the attacks and offered condolences and support to Canada.
An online fundraiser for the victims and their families closed Tuesday after surpassing its goal of $100,000.
Blackmore said the deaths of both Myles and Damien, who he said is still considered a suspect in the attacks, mean their motive may never be known.
“His motivation can, at this time and forever, only be known to Myles,” he said.
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—With files from Mercedes Stephenson
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.