10 killed, 15 injured in Canada stabbings .Police say some were targeted, others picked at random by suspects at large

Damien Sanderson and Myles Sanderson. Reuters RCMP

Associated Press Regina

A series of stabbings at an indigenous community and at another town nearby in Saskatchewan left 10 people dead and 15 wounded, Canadian police said on Sunday as they searched across the expansive province for two suspects.

The stabbings took place in multiple locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon, police said.

Rhonda Blackmore, the Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP in Saskatchewan, said some of the victims appear to have been targeted by the suspects but others appear to have been attacked at random. She couldn’t provide a motive.

“It is horrific what has occurred in our province today,” Ms. Blackmore said, adding there were 13 crime scenes where either deceased or injured people were found.

It is among the deadliest mass killings in Canadian history. The deadliest gun rampage in Canadian history happened in 2020 when a man disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people. A man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto in 2019.

Ms. Blackmore said police began receiving reports before 6 a.m. of stabbings on the First Nation community. More reports of attacks quickly followed and by midday police issued a warning that a vehicle reportedly carrying the two suspects had been spotted in Regina, about 335 km south of the communities where the stabbings occurred.

Police believe the suspects are in the city of Regina and urged residents to follow alerts and provide information if they have.

“If in the Regina area, take precautions & consider sheltering in place. Do not leave a secure location. DO NOT APPROACH suspicious persons. Do not pick up hitch hikers. Report suspicious persons, emergencies or info to 9-1-1. Do not disclose police locations,” the RCMP said in a message on Twitter.

The suspects were identified as Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30.

Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers issued a wanted list last May that included Myles, writing that he was “unlawfully at large.”

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