Canadian police arrest suspect in deadly mass stabbings, ending 4-day manhunt

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Canadian police on Wednesday arrested a man suspected in a weekend stabbing spree that killed 10 people in and around an indigenous tribal reserve in Saskatchewan, ending a four-day manhunt.

Myles Sanderson, 30, was taken into custody near the town of Rosthern, Saskatchewan, about 100 km (62 miles) southwest of the area where the killings occurred on Sunday, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RMCP).

His older brother and accused accomplice, Damien Sanderson, 31, was himself found slain on Monday, a day after the stabbing rampage, in a grassy area of the James Smith Cree Nation.

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“There is no longer a risk to public safety relating to this investigation,” the RMCP said in an alert announcing the arrest.

No further details on the arrest were immediately provided.

Friends and relatives of Bonnie Burns, who was killed on at James Smith Cree Nation, comfort one another at a news conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, September 7, 2022. REUTERS/Valerie Zink

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Eighteen other people were wounded in the rampage, which ranks among the deadliest attacks in Canada’s modern history and has rattled a country unaccustomed to acts of mass violence. Police said some of the victims appeared to have been targeted, while others were apparently random. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/3TIFx2F)

Authorities have offered no motive for the attacks, which occurred on the James Smith Cree Nation reserve, home to some 3,400 people, and the nearby village of Weldon, about 320 km (200 miles) north of the provincial capital of Regina.

The arrest came shortly after the RCMP issued an emergency alert reporting that an unnamed individual believed to be armed with a knife was spotted driving a stolen pickup truck in the town of Wakaw, just east of Rosthern.

Police said in that notice they believed the sighting was linked to the manhunt for Sanderson.

Police have said they were investigating whether the younger sibling might have killed his brother and possibly sustained injuries that required medical attention.

Myles Sanderson was briefly believed to have been spotted on Tuesday back in the James Smith Cree Nation, but a search of the reserve that day turned up no sign of the suspect, and police said they determined he was no longer there.

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Reporting by Valerie Zink in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Steve Scherer in Vancouver and Doina Chiacu, Kanishka Singh and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Writing by Steve Gorman and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Deepa Babington

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