At least 10 people have been killed and 15 others hospitalized after a series of stabbing attacks in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, police said Sunday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said two suspects remained at large on Sunday evening.
Police said the stabbings took place at 13 separate locations throughout the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they are looking for Damien Sanderson, 31, and Miles Sanderson, 30, in connection with the stabbings. Damien Sanderson was described as 5’7″ and weighed about 155 pounds. Police said Miles Sanderson was 6’1″ and about 200 pounds. Police think they may be driving a black Nissan Rogue.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan, said some of the victims appeared to have been targeted by the suspects, but others appeared to have been indiscriminately attacked. Couldn’t provide a motive.
“It’s horrific what happened in our county today,” Blackmore said.
Police said the latest information they got from the public was that the suspects were seen in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, at lunchtime. There have been no sightings since then.
“If you are in the Regina area, take precautions and consider shelter in place. Do not leave a safe place. Do not approach suspicious people. Do not pick up roving. Report suspicious persons, emergencies or information to 9-1-1. Do not disclose Police websites,” the RCMP said in a Twitter message.
Weldon resident Diane Sher said she was in her garden on Sunday morning when she noticed emergency teams two blocks away.
Cher said her neighbor, a man who had been living with his grandson, was killed. She did not want to identify the victim out of respect for his family.
“I am so upset that I lost a good neighbor,” she said.
The suspects were sought when fans descended on Regina for the annual sold-out Labor Day game between the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Rogriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Regina Police Service said in a press release that it was working with Montez’s help on several fronts to locate and arrest suspects and “deployed additional public safety resources throughout the city, including the football match at Mosaic Stadium.”
The alert first issued by Melfort and the Saskatchewan RCMP around 7 a.m. was extended after hours to cover Manitoba and Alberta, where the two suspects remained at large.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said many patients were receiving treatment in several locations.
“A call for additional staff has been issued to respond to the influx of casualties,” authority spokeswoman Ann Lynman said in an email.
Mark Auden, an air ambulance spokesman, said two helicopters were dispatched from Saskatoon and Saskatchewan, and one from Regina.
He said two of the patients were taken to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, while the third had taken patients to the Royal University from a hospital in Melfort, a short distance southeast of Weldon.
Oden said that due to privacy laws, he cannot disclose information about their ages, genders or circumstances.