Myles Sanderson, one of the two suspects a stabbing attack that left 10 dead in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, has died, police said Wednesday evening. He had been arrested earlier that afternoon following a three-day manhunt.
“Shortly after his arrest, he entered medical distress,” Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner for the RCMP in Saskatchewan, said at a press conference Wednesday evening. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Blackmore said. A cause of death was not given.
An official previously told The Associated Press that Sanderson died of self-inflicted injuries.
The official did not explain when those injuries were sustained or when Sanderson died.
Sanderson’s brother, Damien Sanderson, 30, also suspected in the attacks, was found dead on Monday. His injuries do not appear to have been self-inflicted, police said.
“Myles Sanderson was located and taken into custody near Rosthern, Saskatchewan at approximately 3:30 p.m. today,” the Province of Saskatchewan said in an emergency alert Wednesday afternoon. “There is no longer a risk to public safety related to this investigation.”
Myles Sanderson, 32, was facing three counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of breaking and entering.
Shortly before police announced the arrest of Myles Sanderson, a person believed to be armed with a knife was seen in the town of Wakaw and the town of Prince Albert, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said . Wakaw is about 40 miles south of Prince Albert. Both are in Saskatchewan.
The person was spotted in a white 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche with Saskatchewan license plate #953 LPL. The vehicle was reported stolen at 2:10 p.m. local time, police said.
An official with knowledge of the matter said officers rammed Sanderson’s vehicle and he surrendered. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.
Video and photos from the scene showed a white SUV on the side of the road with police cars all around.
Family members of the victims arrived at the scene and thanked police, including Brian Burns, whose wife and son were killed.
“Now we can start healing. Healing starts today, now,” he said.
Another of Burns’ sons was injured and “hopefully I can sleep at night now knowing he’s behind bars,” Burns said.
Sunday’s stabbing spree occurred at 13 separate locations in James Smith’s Cree Nation and Weldon, authorities said. Police said the death of Sanderson’s brother, Damien Sanderson, 30, did not appear to be self-inflicted.
On with the 10 dead19 other people were injured in the knife attack.
The stabbing rampage raised questions about why Myles Sanderson – an ex-con with 59 convictions and a long history of shocking violence – was on the streets in the first place.
He was released by a parole board in February while serving a sentence of more than four years for assault and robbery charges. But he had been wanted by police since May, apparently for breaching the conditions of his release, although the details were not immediately clear.
His long and sinister rap sheet also showed that seven years ago he attacked and stabbed one of the victims killed during the weekend rampage, according to court records.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said there would be an investigation into the parole board’s assessment of Sanderson.
“I want to know the reasons for the decision” to release him, Mendicino said. “I am extremely concerned about what has happened here. A community has been left in shock.”
Investigators gave no reason for the bloodshed.
The Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service said nine of those killed were from James Smith’s Cree Nation: Thomas Burns, 23; Carol Burns, 46; Gregory Burns, 28; Lydia Gloria Burns, 61; Bonnie Burns, 48; Earl Burns, 66; Lana Head, 49; Christian Head, 54; and Robert Sanderson, 49, One was from Weldon, Wesley Patterson, 78.
Authorities would not say how the victims might be related.
Mark Arcand said his half-sister Bonnie and son Gregory were killed.
“His son was lying there already deceased. My sister came out and tried to help her son, and she was stabbed twice, and she died right next to him,” he said. “Right outside her home, she was killed by senseless acts. She was protecting her son. She was protecting three little boys. That’s why she’s a hero.”
Arcand rushed into the reserve on the morning of the looting. After that, he said, “I woke up in the middle of the night screaming and screaming. What I saw that day, I can’t get rid of.”
As for what sparked the violence, Arcand said: “We’re all looking for the same answers. We don’t know what happened. Maybe we’ll never know. That’s the hardest part. of all that.”
Court documents say Sanderson attacked his in-laws Earl Burns and Joyce Burns in 2015, stabbing Earl Jones multiple times and injuring Joyce Burns. He later pleaded guilty to assault and threatening the life of Earl Burns.
Many of Sanderson’s crimes were committed while intoxicated, according to court records. He at one point told parole officials that substance use drove him crazy. Records showed he repeatedly violated court orders prohibiting him from drinking or using drugs.
Indigenous communities in Canada are plagued by drugs and alcohol.
“The drug problem and the alcohol problem on these reservations are out of control,” said Ivor Wayne Burns, whose sister was killed in the weekend bombings. “We have deaths, and we asked before anything was done.”
Myles Sanderson’s childhood was marked by abuse, neglect and substance abuse, according to court records. Sanderson, who is Indigenous and grew up on the Cree reservation, population of 1,900, started drinking and smoking marijuana around age 12, and cocaine followed soon after.
In 2017, he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house, punched a hole in a bathroom door while his two children were hiding in a bathtub and threw a block of cement at a vehicle parked outside, according to parole documents.
He got into a fight days later at a store, threatening to kill an employee and burn down his parents’ house, documents show.
In November, he threatened an accomplice to rob a fast food restaurant by bludgeoning him with a gun and stomping on his head. He then stood guard during the heist.
In 2018 he stabbed two men with a fork while drinking and knocked someone unconscious.
When he was released in February, the parole board placed conditions on his contact with his partner and children and also said he should not have relations with women without the written permission of his parole officer.
In granting Sanderson “statutory release”, parole authorities said: “The Board is of the opinion that you will not pose an undue risk to society.”
Canadian law grants prisoners statutory release after they have served two-thirds of their sentence. But the parole board can impose conditions on that freedom, and inmates who violate them — as Sanderson has done more than once — can be sent back to prison.
Sharna Sugarman, who ran a GoFundMe for victims, questioned the parole board for freeing him and wondered why Sanderson was still at large so many months after being found “illegally at large”.
“It’s just glaring to me,” said Sugarman, a counselor who counted one of the stabbing victims as a client. “If they claim they were looking for it, well, you weren’t looking that hard.”