Canada stabbings suspect Myles Sanderson dies after arreston September 8, 2022 at 5:58 am

The suspect in a stabbing in Canada that left 10 dead and 18 others injured has died after he was captured by police, officials say.

Police said Myles Sanderson, 32, was taken into custody on a highway in the province of Saskatchewan on Wednesday afternoon after a high-speed chase.

Footage from the scene showed a white SUV run off the road and surrounded by police cruisers near Rosthern town.

Ten victims remain in hospital, three of them in a critical condition.

“This evening our province is breathing a collective sigh of relief,” Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore told a news conference on Wednesday night.

She said police had received a report earlier in the day of Sanderson stealing a vehicle from outside a property. The householder was not injured during the theft.

Police gave pursuit as Sanderson fled at speeds of 150km/h (93mph). They forced his vehicle into a ditch and officers found a knife in the SUV as they arrested him, said the police chief. He was taken into custody at around 15:30 local time (21:30 GMT).

Shortly after his arrest, Sanderson went into “medical distress” and was taken to a hospital in Saskatoon, where he was pronounced dead, she added. She did not provide further details, saying his cause of death would be for a post-mortem examination to determine.

An unnamed official earlier told local media that Sanderson died of self-inflicted injuries.

Unverified social media footage from the scene had shown a suspect being arrested by police on the side of a rural highway.

News of Sanderson’s capture came soon after an alert was sent to Canadian mobile phone users warning people near the town of Wakaw to “seek immediate shelter/shelter in place” because a man armed with a knife had been seen driving a stolen white Chevrolet Avalanche in the area.

CBC News reports that Sanderson had broken into a woman’s rural property at around 14:00 local time on Wednesday.

The woman spotted Sanderson walking up to her front door, so she locked it and took refuge in the bathroom in her bedroom, her son told the Canadian broadcaster.

Sanderson kicked down the front door and went into the bedroom, telling the woman he would not hurt her and asking her to come with him, but she refused, according to her son.

The suspect took the keys to the woman’s vehicle, along with her mobile phone, water and a soda and cigarettes, the son said. The woman called RCMP through a landline, reports CBC.

Sanderson had been facing charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and breaking and entering.

His brother, Damien Sanderson, was also accused of playing a role in the attacks on Sunday in the remote area. On Monday, police found his body and are now investigating whether his brother killed him during the manhunt.

Earlier on Wednesday, the parents of the brothers had appealed for their surviving son to turn himself in.

“I want to apologise for my son, my sons,” their mother said in an interview with CBC News.

“We don’t know the whole story, but I want to apologise to everybody that was hurt and affected by this terrible situation.”

Police have not yet revealed any suspected motive for the knife rampage, which encompassed 13 separate crime scenes. Most of those killed – and the Sanderson brothers – were from the James Smith Cree Nation, an indigenous community.

Canada’s parole board said on Tuesday that it would review why Myles Sanderson was released early from prison while serving a four-year sentence for several violent crimes.

In February, the board said he would “not present an undue risk” and that his release would “contribute to the protection of society” by facilitating his rehabilitation.

Saskatoon police earlier confirmed they had been searching for Myles Sanderson since May, when he stopped meeting his assigned caseworker and was classified as “unlawfully at large”.

Parole documents show he had a decades-long criminal record, including 59 criminal convictions since he was 18 for assault, threats and robbery.

According to court papers, Sanderson had knifed two of the victims killed in Sunday’s rampage – his in-laws, Earl Burns and Joyce Burns – seven years ago. He previously pleaded guilty to assault and threatening Mr Burns’ life for the 2015 attack.

“I want to know the reasons behind the [parole] decision,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters. “I’m extremely concerned by what occurred here.”

At an emotional news conference on Wednesday, relatives of the victims spoke of their “horror”.

Mark Arcand, chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, said his sister, Bonnie Goodvoice-Burns, died protecting her three children.

“One of the young boys was hiding behind a highchair watching the whole thing happen,” he said.

Additional reporting by Max Matza