Mass stabbing suspect in Canada dies of self-inflicted injuries

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The mass stabber in Canada that killed 10 and injured 18 has died in hospital after arrest, according to police, who revealed that his death was a result of wounds inflicted on himself. 

Myles Sanderson experienced "medical distress" post-arrest, and was taken to hospital, according to Royal Canadian Mounted police assistant commissioner, Rhonda Blackmore. 

Sources confirmed to the Guardian that Sanderson died not long after being arrested after police ran his vehicle into a ditch. 

Blackmore said that the police may not come to understand what motivated Anderson in the mass stabbing. 

On Wednesday afternoon, police launched a renewed search operation which included aircraft after being called to look into a break-and-enter crime in which Sanderson possessed a knife, with a Chevrolet truck being stolen. 

Sanderson was facing multiple charges for murder after his attack on Weldon, a nearby village. The attack was against an Indigenous community, namely the James Smith Cree Nation. The victims' names were: 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, Robert Sanderson, 49 and Wesley Petterson, 78.

His mother urged him to turn himself in on CBC News: “Myles, my boy, turn yourself in. Please. You can do this... Come back. Turn yourself in. Do the right thing.”

His father weighed in: “I give all my sincere apologies to the families … From the bottom of my heart, I mean it,” he said. “I am so sorry this happened. I don’t know what else to say, what to do … I wish it was a dream.”

Parole documents which have been released on Tuesday showed that Sanderson has 59 convictions over a course of 20 years for domestic assault, assaults with weapons, attacking a police officer, and more. 

According to records, he previously attacked and stabbed one of the victims that were killed over the weekend. 

At a brief press update late Monday afternoon, police announced that the body of Damien Sanderson, Myles' brother, had been located in a grassy area near a house around the area of James Smith Cree Nation and was being examined by police. But his injuries are reportedly not self-inflicted, ruling out the aspect of suicide. 

Indigenous homicides in Canada 

Mass killings in Canada are relatively rare compared with the US, as this was one of the deadliest since a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, which left 22 dead and sparked national outrage into how the gunman escaped the police for more than 12 hours while he went on his rampage across the province.

Although authorities have not yet named any of the victims, the leaders of James Smith Cree Nation declared a state of emergency in response to “the numerous murders and assaults on members of James Smith Cree Nation.” The leaders represent three Indigenous communities in Canada: the James Smith Cree Nation, Chakastaypasin Band, and Peter Chapman Band.
 
While Indigenous people make up roughly 5% of Canada’s total population, they happen to be among the majority of victims of violence in the country, according to official data. The rate of homicides involving an Indigenous victim from 2015 to 2020 was six times higher than the rate of homicides involving non-Indigenous victims.

The attack in Saskatchewan has police investigating 13 crime scenes. At least 15 people were admitted to the hospital, according to Blackmore, and “there may be additional injured victims who transported themselves to hospital.”

Police disclosed that an investigation into whether the Sandersons are related and whether they were known to police is still ongoing. In May, Myles Sanderson was listed as “unlawfully at large” by Saskatchewan CrimeStoppers — a community initiative designed to enlist public help to solve crimes and missing person cases.