A manhunt is going on in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba for Damien and Myles Sanderson who are believed to be responsible for a stabbing spree that has left ten people dead and fifteen others injured. According to early police reports there are over a dozen crime spree and police believe some of the stabbings were deliberate targets where the others were random.
Damien Sanderson is 31 years old, five foot seven and weighs roughly 155 pounds. Myles Sanderson is 30 years old, six foot one and approximately 200 pounds. It is believed that Damian and Myles Sanderson are driving a black Nissan Rogue.
The stabbing spree is one of the worst in Canadian history
Damian and Myles Sanderson More News
RCMP say 10 people have died and 15 have been sent to hospitals after stabbings in multiple locations in Saskatchewan.
They say they are looking for two suspects — Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30 — who are considered armed and dangerous.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said Sunday the dead and injured were found in 13 locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon.
She said the injured have been taken to various hospitals, and there may be other victims who went to hospitals on their own.
Some people were targeted and others were attacked at random, Blackmore said.
“It is horrific what has happened in our province today,” she told a news conference in Regina.
She urged the suspects to turn themselves in
Weldon resident Diane Shier said she was in her garden Sunday morning when she noticed emergency crews a couple of blocks away.
Shier said her neighbour, a man who lived with his grandson, was killed. She did not want to identify the victim out of respect for his family.
“I am very upset because I lost a good neighbour.”
She said businesses in the village of about 200 people are usually closed Sundays, but stores in larger surrounding communities had closed as a safety precaution.
Weldon resident Robert Rush also described the victim as a gentle, widowed man in his 70s. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
He said the victim’s adult grandson was in the basement at the time and phoned police.
“He stayed down there until they were gone.”
Rush said people in Weldon believe the suspects left the village. Later Sunday, he drove to Prince Albert to buy a cake for his wife’s birthday and left his granddaughter at home.
“I gave her two guns and a bat,” Rush said.
The hunt for the suspects was also on in Regina, where fans descended for a sold out annual Labour Day game between the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
RCMP said there was a possible sighting in the city of a vehicle with the suspects.
In a Twitter statement, the Roughriders said there was increased law enforcement presence at the Mosaic Stadium and surrounding area.
The Regina Police Service, in a news release, said that with the help of Mounties, it was investigating 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.”
Justin Trudeau responded to the news on Twitter.
“The attacks in Saskatchewan today are horrific and heartbreaking. I’m thinking of those who have lost a loved one and of those who were injured,” he said.
“I want to offer my deepest condolences on behalf of the government and people of Saskatchewan to all of the family and friends of the victims of today’s horrific attacks,” tweeted Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe.
An alert first issued by Melfort RCMP about 7 a.m. was extended hours later to cover Manitoba and Alberta, as the two suspects remained at large.
Damien Sanderson was described as five feet seven inches tall and 155 pounds, and Myles Sanderson as six-foot-one and 200 pounds. Both have black hair and brown eyes and may be driving a black Nissan Rogue with licence plate 119 MPI
James Smith Cree Nation leaders declared a state of emergency “in response to the numerous murders and assaults on members of James Smith Cree Nation.”
Two emergency operations centres were also set up in the communities, the statement said.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said multiple patients were being treated at several sites.
“A call for additional staff was issued to respond to the influx of casualties,’’ authority spokeswoman Anne Linemann said in an email
Mark Oddan, a spokesman with STARS Air Ambulance, said two helicopters were dispatched from Saskatoon and another from Regina.
Oddan said two carried patients from the scene to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, while the third carried a patient to Royal University from a hospital in Melfort, a short distance southeast of Weldon.
Oddan said due to privacy laws, he could not disclose information about their ages, genders or conditions.
He said other patients were transported by ground ambulance to hospitals in Prince Albert, Nipawin and Melfort, but didn’t know how many.
Oddan said the second chopper dispatched from Saskatoon carried a transport physician to the scene to assist with operations on the ground, but he did not know the location.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/09/04/10-dead-15-injured-in-saskatchewan-stabbin.html