Authorities have offered no explanation for what may have sparked the attacks
\nTORONTO
\nThe suspect sought by Canadian authorities in a weekend stabbing spree that killed 10 people in and around an indigenous reserve was arrested on Wednesday, then lapsed into unexplained \u201cmedical distress\u201d and died soon after at a hospital, police said.
\nOfficial word that the intense four-day manhunt for Myles Sanderson, 30, ended with his death came during a late-night news conference hours after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported he had been taken into custody.
\nSanderson\u2019s demise clouded prospects of investigators ever clearly determining a motive for Sunday\u2019s deadly attacks, one of the bloodiest acts of mass violence in the country\u2019s history.
\nHis older brother and accused accomplice, Damien Sanderson, 31, was found slain on Monday in a grassy area of the James Smith Cree Nation reserve in central Saskatchewan.
\nPolice said they were still investigating whether the younger sibling might have killed his brother in the aftermath of the stabbing rampage, which took place in the reserve and the nearby village of Weldon, about 320 km (200 miles) north of the provincial capital of Regina.
\nMyles Sanderson was arrested near the town of Rosthern, roughly midway between Weldon and Saskatchewan\u2019s largest city, Saskatoon, after a resident of an adjacent town reported spotting him with a knife attempting to break in. He then sped off in a stolen pickup truck, according to the RCMP.
\nRCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore told reporters police catching up with Sanderson forced his truck off the road into a ditch and surrounded the vehicle before taking the suspect into custody and seizing a knife from inside the pickup.
\nBut Sanderson \u201cwent into medical distress\u201d soon after he was detained, Blackmore said. He was attended to by emergency personnel on the scene and was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later, she said.
\nCanada\u2019s Global News agency, citing multiple law enforcement sources, reported that Sanderson had died of unspecified injuries that authorities believed were self-inflicted.
\nBlackmore gave no details about the Sanderson\u2019s medical episode and declined to address questions about whether he might have ingested a drug or other substance that killed him, saying an autopsy would determine the manner and cause of his death.
\nShe said investigators believe he had sustained an injury requiring medical attention either during Sunday\u2019s attacks or just afterward, based on his theft of a first-aid kit from another vehicle. Blackmore said an emergency-911 caller who reported spotting the suspect on Wednesday also described him as appearing to have an injury.
\nIn addition to the 10 victims killed on Sunday, 18 others were wounded in the rampage, which unnerved a country where instances of mass murder are rare. Police said some of the victims appeared to have been targeted, while others were apparently random.
\nAuthorities have offered no explanation for what may have sparked the attacks.
\nWith Myles Sanderson\u2019s death, \u201cWe may never have an understanding of that motivation,\u201d Blackmore said.
\nHis arrest came hours after new details about the victims and the circumstances of their deaths were brought to light by relatives.
\nDuring an emotional news conference on Wednesday, Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand revealed his sister, Bonnie Burns, 48, and his 28-year-old nephew, Gregory Burns, were stabbed to death in their front yard on the James Smith Cree reserve early on Sunday morning.
\nBurns\u2019 other three sons and two foster children were also home at the time of the attacks.
\n\u201cShe was protecting her son. She was protecting these three little boys. This is why she\u2019s a hero. She\u2019s a true matriarch,\u201d Arcand said of his slain sister.
\nThirteen-year-old Dayson Burns was stabbed in the neck but survived, and another young boy in the home hid behind a high chair watching the violence unfold, Arcand said.
\n\u201cDuring this difficult time we are just climbing a mountain … and that mountain is the devastation of what happened to our family member,\u201d Arcand told reporters.
\nSome First Nation leaders have linked the killings to drug use, but police have not cited drugs or alcohol as factors. A member of the James Smith Cree, Ivor Wayne Burns, said the Sanderson brothers belonged to First Nation communities.
\nTen of the wounded were still hospitalized as of Tuesday afternoon, seven in stable condition and three critical, health authorities said.
\nMyles Sanderson had been wanted as a fugitive since May when he stopped meeting his parole officer after serving time for assault, robbery and other offenses. He had amassed a criminal record of 59 convictions over two decades, according to parole documents reviewed by Reuters.
\nMinister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino promised an inquiry into the decision to release Sanderson on parole.
\nChief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said in a statement on Wednesday night that the communities traumatized by Sunday\u2019s violence can at least \u201cnow take comfort that Mr. Sanderson is no longer a risk to their safety.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Authorities have offered no explanation for what may have sparked the attacks TORONTO The suspect sought by Canadian authorities in a weekend stabbing spree that killed 10 people in and around an indigenous reserve was arrested on Wednesday, then lapsed into unexplained \u201cmedical distress\u201d and died soon after at a hospital, police said. Official word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-282345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n