Canadian police hunt for suspects after 10 stabbed to death

REGINA, Saskatchewan (AP) — Canadian police searched on Monday for two men suspected of stabbing 10 people to death in an Indigenous community and a nearby town, as the massive manhunt following one of the nation's deadliest mass killings entered its second day.

Authorities have said some of the victims were targeted and others appeared to have been chosen at random in a series of attacks on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the town of Weldon in Saskatchewan province.

They have given no motive for the crimes, which also left 15 people wounded — but a senior Indigenous leader suggested drugs were somehow involved.

Police believe the suspects were last spotted around midday on Sunday in the provincial capital of Regina, about 335 kilometers (210 miles) south of where the stabbings happened. Authorities have issued warnings for Manitoba and Alberta — provinces on either side of Saskatchewan — to also be on alert, and U.S. border officials have been contacted.

With the suspects at large, terror gripped communities in the rural, working class area of Saskatchewan surrounded by farmland but not far from the forests of the north. Many retirees reside in Weldon, which has a population of about 200.

“No one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They're going to be terrified to open their door,” said Weldon resident Ruby Works, who was close to one of the victims.

The suspects were identified as Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30, but police gave few details about them.

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

The attack was among the deadliest mass killings in Canada, where such crimes are less common than in the United States.

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. In 2019, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement he was “shocked and devastated by the horrific attacks.”

“As Canadians, we mourn with everyone affected by this tragic violence, and with the people of Saskatchewan,” Trudeau said.

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