The latest suspect in the recent mass stabbings in and around a Canadian reserve has died after being driven off the road, police have confirmed.
Myles Sanderson, 32, was found near the town of Rosthern in central Saskatchewan as officers responded to reports of a stolen vehicle being driven by a knife-wielding man, it said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Officers pulled Sanderson’s vehicle off the road into a ditch, and he was taken into custody, but drove into what a spokeswoman described as “medical distress”.
He was taken to hospital, but died shortly thereafter.
Ten people were killed and 18 injured after attacks in and around the James Smith Cree Nation, an Indigenous community in the central province of Saskatchewan, on Sunday.
Ten victims are still hospitalized, three of them in critical condition.
At a news conference confirming the death of Myles Sanderson, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said she visited James Smith’s Cree Nation, which is home to nine of the 10 victims, and said many of them had “witnessed incredible trauma”.
“A lot of people haven’t slept,” she said. “They told me: ‘every time I close my eyes, I hear noises’.
“I hope it gives them a sense of closure and that they can rest easier tonight knowing that Myles is no longer on the run.
“Hopefully now they are able to start healing.”
Bonnie, wife of Brian Burns, and son Gregory were killed in the attacks
Hundreds of police embarked on an extensive manhunt for the suspects, Myles and his brother Damien Sanderson, who had fled the crime scene.
Damien was found dead in a grassy area in the James Smith Cree Nation on Monday, with injuries that police say were not self-inflicted.
Myles Sanderson, who officers described as armed and dangerous, remained at large until Wednesday afternoon.
Sunday’s stabbing was one of the deadliest attacks in modern Canadian history.
Police said some of the victims appeared to have been deliberately targeted, while others were attacked indiscriminately.
Officers did not disclose a possible motive, but a statement from an Indigenous group in the province suggested the stabbings could be drug-related.
But Ms Blackmore said: ‘Sadly now that Myles is dead we may never understand that motivation.
Friends of James Smith’s Cree Nation victims comfort each other
parole violation
Questions are starting to be asked about why Myles Sanderson – with 59 convictions and a long history of violence – was on the streets.
The 32-year-old 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 violating the conditions of his release.
