Saskatchewan stabbing suspect dies of 'self inflicted' wounds in custody

The second and final suspect in the stabbing deaths of 10 people in the province of Saskatchewan has died from "self inflicted" wounds, local media and officials said.

Police reported his death without elaborating on what caused Myles Sanderson's injuries or death after he was located and taken into custody on Wednesday.

Sanderson was located near the town of Rosthern at about 3:30 pm local time, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police statement said.

Police had earlier issued an alert warning of a man with a knife driving a stolen White Chevy Suburban.

The manhunt for the two brothers had entered its third day. The fugitive's brother and fellow suspect, Damien Sanderson, 30, was found dead on Monday near the stabbing sites. Police are investigating if Sanderson, 32, killed his brother.

The rampage raised questions on Wednesday about why the suspect — an ex-con with 59 convictions and a long history of shocking violence — was out on the streets in the first place.

Sanderson was released by a parole board in February while serving a sentence of over four years on charges that included assault and robbery. But he had been wanted by police since May, apparently for violating the terms of his release, though the details were not immediately clear.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said there will be an investigation into the parole board's assessment of Sanderson.

"I want to know the reasons behind the decision" to release him, Mendicino said. "I'm extremely concerned with what occurred here. A community has been left reeling."

Sanderson and Damien are accused of killing 10 people and wounding 18 in a string of attacks across an Indigenous reserve and in the nearby town of Weldon on Sunday. 

Sanderson attacked some of the same victims  in 2015

The Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service said nine of those killed were from the James Smith Cree Nation: 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; and Robert Sanderson, 49, One was from Weldon, 78-year-old Wesley Patterson. 

Authorities would not say how the victims might be related.

Mark Arcand said his half-sister Bonnie and her son Gregory were killed.

"Her son was lying there already deceased. My sister went out and tried to help her son, and she was stabbed two times, and she died right beside him," he said. "Right outside of her home she was killed by senseless acts. She was protecting her son. She was protecting three little boys. This is why she is a hero."

Arcand rushed to the reserve the morning of the rampage. After that, he said, "I woke up in the middle of the night just screaming and yelling. What I saw that day I can’t get out of my head."

Court documents said Sanderson attacked his in-laws Earl Burns and Joyce Burns in 2015, knifing Earl repeatedly and wounding Joyce. He later pleaded guilty to assault and threatening Earl Burns' life.

Many of Sanderson's crimes were committed when he was intoxicated, according to court records. 

Out on parole despite long history of violence

Sanderson's childhood was marked by violence, neglect and substance abuse, court records show. Sanderson, who is Indigenous and was raised on the Cree reserve, population 1,900, started drinking and smoking marijuana at around 12, and cocaine followed soon after.

In 2017, he barged into his ex-girlfriend’s home, punched a hole in the door of a bathroom while his two children were hiding in a bathtub and threw a cement block at a vehicle parked outside, according to parole documents.

That November he threatened an accomplice into robbing a fast-food restaurant by clubbing him with a gun and stomping on his head. He then stood watching during the holdup.

In 2018, he stabbed two men with a fork while drinking and beat someone unconscious.

When he was released in February, the parole board set conditions on his contact with his partner and children and also said he should not enter into relationships with women without written permission from his parole officer.

Canadian law grants prisoners statutory release after they serve two-thirds of their sentence. But the parole board can impose conditions on that freedom, and inmates who violate them — as Sanderson did more than once — can be ordered back to prison.

Sharna Sugarman, who was organising a GoFundMe for the victims, wondered why Sanderson was still on the loose so many months after he was deemed "unlawfully at large."

"If they claim that they’ve been looking for him, well, you weren’t looking that hard," said Sugarman, a counsellor who counted one of the stabbing victims as a client.

READ MORE: Canada stabbing suspect still at large as residents mourn 10 deaths