REGINA, Saskatchewan
\nA series of stabbings at an Indigenous community and at another town nearby in Saskatchewan left 10 people dead and 15 wounded, Canadian police said Sunday as they searched across the expansive province for two suspects.
\nThe stabbings took place in multiple locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon, police said.
\nRhonda Blackmore, the Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP Saskatchewan, said some of the victims appear to have been targeted by the suspects but others appear to have been attacked at random. She couldn\u2019t provide a motive.
\n\u201cIt is horrific what has occurred in our province today,\u201d Blackmore said, adding there were 13 crime scenes where either deceased or injured people were found.
\nIt is among the deadliest mass killings in Canadian history. 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. A man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto in 2019. But mass killings are less common in Canada than in the United States.
\nBlackmore said police began receiving reports before 6 a.m. of stabbings on the First Nation community. More reports of attacks quickly followed and by midday police issued a warning that a vehicle reportedly carrying the two suspects had been spotted in Regina, about 335 kilometers (208 miles) south of the communities where the stabbings occurred.
\nPolice said the last information they had from the public was that the suspects were sighted there around lunchtime. There have been no sightings since.
\n\u201cIf in the Regina area, take precautions & consider sheltering in place. Do not leave a secure location. DO NOT APPROACH suspicious persons. Do not pick up hitch hikers. Report suspicious persons, emergencies or info to 9-1-1. Do not disclose police locations,\u201d the RCMP said in a message on Twitter.
\nDoreen Lees, an 89-year grandmother from Weldon, said she and her daughter thought they saw one of the suspects when a car came barreling down her street early in the morning as her daughter was having coffee on her deck. Lees said a man approached them and said he was hurt and needed help.
\nBut Lees said the man took off and ran after her daughter said she would call for help.
\n\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t show his face. He had a big jacket over his face. We asked his name and he kind of mumbled his name twice and we still couldn\u2019t get it,\u201d she said. \u201cHe said his face was injured so bad he couldn\u2019t show it.\u201d
\nShe said the man was by himself and \u201ckind of a little wobbly.\u201d
\n\u201cI followed him a little ways to see if he was going to be OK. My daughter said \u2018Don\u2019t follow him, get back here.\u2019\u201d
\nWeldon residents have identified one of the victims as Wes Petterson. Ruby Works said the 77-year-old widower was like an uncle to her.
\n\u201cI collapsed and hit the ground. I\u2019ve known him since I was just a little girl,\u2033 she said, describing the moment she heard the news. She said he loved his cats, was proud of his homemade Saskatoon berry jam and frequently helped out his neighbors.
\n\u201cHe didn\u2019t do anything. He didn\u2019t deserve this. He was a good, kind hearted man,\u2033 said Works.
\nShe said the event has shaken a community where the sounds of sirens are rarely heard.
\n\u201cNo one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They\u2019re going to be terrified to open their door,\u2033 she said
\nWeldon resident Robert Rush also described the victim as a gentle, widowed man in his 70s.
\n“He wouldn\u2019t hurt a fly,\u2033 he said.
\nRush said Petterson\u2019s adult grandson was in the basement at the time and phoned police.
\nAt the Weldon Christian Tabernacle Church the congregation began their regular Sunday service by saying a special prayer to the victims and their families.
\nAt the James Smith Cree Nation, a convenience store that also serves as a gas station became a gathering place for community members, who greeted each other with tears and hugs. A sign on the door said: \u201cDue to safety concerns with our community we will remain closed until further notice.\u201d
\nThe elected leaders of the three communities that make up the James Smith Cree Nation, including the Chakastaypasin Band and the Peter Chapman Band, declared a local state of emergency on Sunday.
\nChakastaypasin Chief Calvin Sanderson said he\u2019d left his phone off on Sunday morning and only learned of the tragic events when community members came to his door to check on him.
\nEveryone\u2019s been affected, he said.
\n\u201cThey were our relatives, friends. Mostly we\u2019re all related here, so it\u2019s pretty hard,\u2033 Sanderson said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty horrific.\u201d
\nThe emergency declaration, which was released by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said two emergency operations centers have been set up.
\nThe search for suspects was carried out as fans descended on Regina for a sold out annual Labor Day game between the Canadian Football League\u2019s Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
\nThe Regina Police Service said in a news release that with the help of Mounties, it was working on several fronts to locate and arrest the suspects and had \u201cdeployed additional resources for public safety throughout the city, including the football game at Mosaic Stadium.\u2033
\nThe alert first issued by Melfort, Saskatchewan RCMP about 7 a.m. was extended hours later to cover Manitoba and Alberta, as the two suspects remained at large.
\nDamien Sanderson, 31, was described as five feet seven inches tall and 155 pounds, and Myles Sanderson, 30, as six-foot-one and 200 pounds. They may be driving a black vehicle.
\nSaskatchewan Crime Stoppers issued a wanted list last May that included Myles, writing that he was \u201cunlawfully at large.\u201d
\nThe Saskatchewan Health Authority said multiple patients were being treated at several sites.
\n\u201cA call for additional staff was issued to respond to the influx of casualties,\u201d authority spokeswoman Anne Linemann said in an email.
\nCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that the \u201cattacks in Saskatchewan today are horrific and heartbreaking.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m thinking of those who have lost a loved one and of those who were injured,\u201d Trudeau wrote.
\nDeadly mass stabbings are more rare than mass shootings but have happened around the world. In 2014, 29 people were slashed and stabbed to death at a train station in China\u2019s southwestern city of Kunming. In 2016, a mass stabbing at a facility for the mentally disabled in Sagamihara, Japan, left 19 people dead. A year later, three men killed eight people in a vehicle and stabbing attack at London Bridge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
REGINA, Saskatchewan A series of stabbings at an Indigenous community and at another town nearby in Saskatchewan left 10 people dead and 15 wounded, Canadian police said Sunday as they searched across the expansive province for two suspects. The stabbings took place in multiple locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-281701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n