Saskatchewan Stabbing Rampage Suspect Dies After Arrest: Reports
Myles Sanderson, one of two people suspected of a stabbing rampage across a Canadian province that left 10 people dead and 18 injured, was apprehended Wednesday afternoon, according to Saskatchewan RCMP.
He later died of apparently self-inflicted injuries, according to multiple reports.
After a frantic manhunt, Sanderson, 32, was taken into custody near Rosthern, Saskatchewan, the Canadian police force said. The arrest comes hours after the RCMP issued an emergency alert regarding a dangerous person traveling in a stolen vehicle through a town 27 miles west of Rosthern. The individual was armed with a knife, according to the alert.
An unnamed official told The Washington Post that Sanderson had given himself up after police rammed his vehicle. He faced three counts of first-degree murder, as well as charges of attempted murder and breaking and entering.
“There’s a real sense of relief,” a 22-year-old woman whose grandmother was killed in the attack told The New York Times on Wednesday. “A lot of people will sleep better tonight.”
Sanderson had been on the run for four days. Immediately after the spree, The Daily Beast reported Wednesday morning, he made a three-hour road trip to province capital Regina, where he made a few final farewells to loved ones.
Video from Brandi Soles as RCMP arrested Myles Sanderson at 3:30pm.
This is near Rosthern, Saskatchewan. pic.twitter.com/gGlJngqzeG— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) September 7, 2022
Parole records obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation a day after the stabbings revealed Sanderson’s violent criminal past. His extensive rap sheet totaled 59 previous convictions, including for assaulting a police officer; beating a man into unconsciousness; and stabbing two others with a fork. He had a lifetime weapons ban as a result of his record.
Approximately half of his convictions came from failures to comply with existing orders, the CBC reported. Many of the remainder were committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to court records. He began using cocaine as a 14-year-old and told parole officers that his “regular use of cocaine, marijuana, and hard alcohol” would make him “lose [his] mind.” He added that he was “a different person when sober,” according to the documents.
Sanderson’s brother, 31-year-old Damien Sanderson, was found dead Monday not far from the stabbing sites. It remained unclear Wednesday evening how he died, but police said his stabbing wounds did not appear to be self-inflicted.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer photographs a pickup truck at the scene where suspect Myles Sanderson was arrested, along Highway 11 in Weldon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on Sept. 7, 2022.
The names of the stabbing rampage victims were released earlier on Wednesday. They ranged in age from 23 to 78 years old, and all but one were from the Indigenous community of James Smith Cree Nation.
Six people killed on Sunday were members of the extended Burns family, including Earl Burns, 66, who was Myles Sanderson’s father-in-law. In 2015, according to court records, Sanderson came after Burns and his wife, Joyce, injuring both of them. Sanderson later pleaded guilty to assault and threatening Burns’ life.
Burns was a school bus driver who, when wounded on Sunday, climbed into his vehicle and tried to reach help, according to the Times. He died in the attempt; his bus remained in the ditch it had swerved into on Wednesday, guarded by a police vehicle.
Joyce Burns was one of the 18 people wounded in the rampage. Of the injured, 10 remain hospitalized, with three in critical condition, Saskatchewan health officials said.
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