The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that they were using “every human, investigational and technological resource we have available” to hunt down two men suspected of killing 10 people and wounding 18 more in a mass stabbing spree across Saskatchewan province.
The Sunday rampage, described by one official as “a very significant event, if not the largest we’ve seen in the last number of years,” spread across at least 13 different crime scenes in James Smith Cree Nation, which has an on-reserve population of 3,400, and Weldon, a village of 200 people.
Police identified Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30, as the suspects, whose location and direction of travel is unknown. The pair have both been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and one count of break and enter. More charges are expected.
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“Unfortunately the two males are still at large, this despite ongoing, relentless efforts through the night,” Evan Bray, chief of Regina Police, said Monday morning.
The men are considered armed and dangerous, police said. They were last sighted in Regina, the province’s capital, which lies roughly 200 miles south of the stabbing sites, around midday.
“We’re all in shock,” a woman who identified herself as a relative of one of the suspects told The Daily Beast. “My husband is making the rounds, the bodies they left. The coroner is still making the rounds here.”
Bobby Cameron, the chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), suggested that the incidents were connected to drugs. “Our hearts break for all those impacted,” he said in a statement. “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.”
Sanderson was on a wanted list back on May 27, listed only as “unlawfully at large.” He had disappeared while on parole after serving time for assault, robbery, mischief and uttering threats, police said Monday. At the time, he was described as being 32 years old, 5 ft 10, 239 pounds, with his last known location being Saskatoon. (On Sunday, police described him as 30 years old and 6 ft 1.)
Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner of the Saskatchewan RCMP, did not provide a motive but said only some of the victims appeared to have been deliberately targeted.
She warned residents in the area around Regina to shelter in place and avoid picking up any hitchhikers. Residents of neighboring provinces of Alberta and Manitoba were also asked to be on alert.
The RCMP said the suspects may be traveling in a black Nissan Rogue. One James Smith Cree Nation resident identified the vehicle as her brother’s, saying on Facebook that it had allegedly been stolen after the suspects had broken into their family’s home early Sunday.
Police said they began receiving reports of stabbing attacks on the James Smith Cree Nation around 5:40 a.m. Sunday. More reports began to flood in as Melfort officers were dispatched to the reservation.
One 17-year-old resident, whose name The Daily Beast is withholding, said he’d been at his girlfriend’s house that morning when he received a panicked phone call from his mother, who told him his auntie had been injured.
“They knocked on her door at night,” he said he was told, “and after my auntie opened the door, she was slashed on the face, and stabbed on the shoulder, and stabbed on the back.”
The woman was transported to a nearby hospital, where doctors told family members she was expected to recover. The 17-year-old said that he’d heard rumors that at least one of his friends had been killed.
“I haven’t heard from her all day,” he said. “It hurts.”
He added, “Everyone is sending their prayers and a lot of us are very worried... I was angry.”
Michael Brett Burns identified one of the victims as his former partner and mother of his two daughters, Lana Head.
“It’s sick how jail time, drugs and alcohol can destroy many lives,” he told the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. “I’m hurt for all this loss.”
Another victim was identified by residents in Weldon as 77-year-old Wes Petterson, a widower who loved his cats and was known for his homemade Saskatoon berry jam.
“He didn’t do anything. He didn’t deserve this. He was a good, kind hearted man,” local resident Ruby W Works said, according to the Associated Press.
Doreen Lees, a 89-year-old Weldon resident, told the AP she thought she and her daughter had briefly come into contact with one of the suspects. Lees said a man had approached their home, saying that he was hurt and needed help, only to flee when Lees’ daughter offered to call for help.
The man, according to Lees, covered his face with a jacket and appeared “kind of a little wobbly.”
Cynthia Sanderson, a Saskatoon resident (unrelated to the suspects), said that the information coming out of James Smith had slowed to a trickle.
“No one knows anything yet,” she said. “Police have blockades everywhere.”
To handle the high number of victims, the Saskatchewan Health Authority activated its emergency response process, calling for additional staff to help process the “influx of casualties,” a spokesperson said in an email to the AP. Police also raised the possibility of further victims who may have transported themselves to the hospital.
Following the spree, the James Smith Cree Nation declared a state of emergency until Sept. 30, according to the CBC.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attacks “horrific and heartbreaking” in a statement, adding his thanks to “all the brave first responders” involved and urging people to follow updates from local authorities.
“There are no words to adequately describe the pain and loss caused by this senseless violence,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe tweeted. “All of Saskatchewan grieves with the victims and their families.”
The investigation continued as more than 33,000 fans gathered at Mosaic Stadium in Regina to see the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
In a statement, the Roughriders said officials were working with law enforcement to monitor the situation, and that the game would go ahead with the presence of additional security.
