Final suspect in Canadian stabbing spree arrested after car chase, dies in custody

Myles Sanderson, the second and final suspect in a murder spree that left 10 people dead and 18 injured in Canada's Saskatchewan province, was arrested after a high-speed chase on Wednesday. Police forced Sanderson's stolen SUV into a ditch off a highway near Rosthern then took him into custody, along with a knife, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said at a news conference. Then he went into "medical distress" and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"All life saving measures that we are capable of were taken at that time," Blackmore said ."I can't speak to the specific manner of death." An unidentified official told reporters earlier that Sanderson, 32, died from unspecified self-inflicted injuries.

YouTube

Watch On

Sanderson's younger brother, Damien Sanderson, was also suspected of involvement in Sunday's stabbing murders. He was found dead with stab wounds on Monday. Police have not publicly speculated on what prompted the rampage, and "now that Myles is deceased we may never have an understanding of that motivation," Blacmore said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Myles Sanderson has a long and violent criminal record that includes 59 criminal convictions for assault, threats, robbery, and other crimes since he turned 18. He knew at least some of the people killed on Sunday, including his in-laws Earl and Joyce Burns. Sanderson stabbed Earl Burns multiple times in 2015 and wounded Joyce Burns, The Associated Press reports. "Many of Sanderson's crimes were committed when he was intoxicated, according to court records."

Police began their final pursuit of Sanderson after a woman called the RCMP to report that her car had been stolen by a man with a knife. The woman said she saw a man she believed to be Sanderson approach her door at about 2 pm local time on Wednesday, locked the door and hid in her bathroom, and refused to come out after Sanderson kicked down her door and entered her bedroom, her son told CBC News. The man then took the keys to her vehicle, along with her phone, cigarettes, and bottled drinks.

Sanderson was released on parole in February, with certain restriction, AP reports. He quickly violated the terms of his "statutory release" and has been "unlawfully at large" since May, Saskatoon police say. Canadian officials vowed to investigate the parole decision.