TORONTO – Canadian police said Thursday they now believe a man, Myles Sanderson, was killed in a mass stabbing that rocked rural Saskatchewan last month, including that of his brother, Damien, whom police had previously identified as a suspect.
Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan, said evidence suggests Damien Sanderson, 31, helped plan the attacks on the James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby village of Weldon that left 11 killed in one of Canada’s deadliest mass murders.
But “Myles Sanderson committed all the homicides alone,” she said at a news conference in Regina. “The RCMP believe it is important to clarify Damien’s involvement in this sequence of events to demonstrate our continued commitment to transparency with the victims and families of those affected and with the public.”
Police initially identified the two brothers as suspects in the Sept. 4 attacks that left 18 injured, a reeling province and many more questions than answers.
Damien Sanderson was found dead on the James Smith Cree Nation with injuries that authorities say did not appear to be self-inflicted.
Authorities arrested Myles Sanderson, 32, on the side of a road near Rosthern, about 80 kilometers southwest of the indigenous community, after a search that lasted nearly four days. They said he ran into medical problems shortly after he was arrested. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Canadian stabbing suspect has died in custody, police say
The victims of the attacks were between 23 and 78 years old. All but one were from the Cree Nation of James Smith.
Separately on Thursday, the Parole Board of Canada and the Correctional Service of Canada said they would create a “national board” to investigate the circumstances surrounding Myles Sanderson’s release from federal custody.
Sanderson had 59 convictions as an adult and was serving a four-year, four-month sentence for charges including assault and robbery, according to Parole Board of Canada records.
He was granted statutory release in August 2021. Canadian law requires some federal offenders who have served two-thirds of their sentences to be released from prison and placed under supervision in their communities.
Myles Sanderson’s statutory release was revoked in November after he was not honest with his parole supervisor about violating his conditions. This decision was canceled in February and he was released again. In May, he failed to report to his probation officer and was declared “unlawfully at large.”
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Saskatchewan’s chief coroner has ordered two public inquiries into the attack, including the circumstances of Myles Sanderson’s death. He said the results of the “very preliminary autopsy” show he did not die from blunt force trauma.
Damien Sanderson’s wife, Skye, told Global News that she called the police the day before the hit-and-run to report him and his brother, after Damien had taken her car. He claimed that while the police returned his car that night, they did not conduct a thorough search of the brothers.
The RCMP have largely refused to provide updates on their investigation, saying they cannot release details before coroner’s investigations begin next year.
But on Thursday, Blackmore said RCMP had received a call about a stolen car on the James Smith Cree Nation the day before the attack and later located it outside a residence on the reserve. He said officers searched the residence and asked three of the men inside for their identities.
Blackmore said the investigation has determined that Damien Sanderson, who was wanted for assault, provided officers with a false name. He said the photograph the police had of him was out of date.
Blackmore said the brothers had been selling drugs in the community the day before the hit-and-run and had been involved in three violent altercations. He said none of these incidents were reported to police before the mass stabbings.
Blackmore said the chief coroner was aware he was providing the update.
“We felt it was important to address some of this information to balance both the interest of the family and the victims as they work to heal from this incident … as well as information for the public to have answers to questions that are pose,” she said.