The RCMP has released new details about the man accused of a mass stabbing that killed 11 people and injured 18 in Saskatchewan in 2022.
“People would hear all about it in the next few hours,” Damien Sanderson said.
The RCMP said Damien was the first murder victim, as Myles, 32, went on to kill more than a dozen people on Sept. 4, 2022. He died after being arrested by police, who searched for the suspect for four days before his apprehension. Police said at the time that he was in medical distress shortly after his arrest.The Mounties said the case involved processing more than 42 separate crime scenes, interviewing more than 250 witnesses, and seizing 700 pieces of evidence. They said the suspect killed all ages, from youth to elderly, following three days of selling cocaine, assaulting members of the community on James Smith Cree Nation, and drinking at local bars.
At one point on Sept. 3, at around 5 p.m. local time, police investigators say the brothers split up after assaulting Gregory Burns. They met up again before midnight, assaulted another male victim, and stole a Dodge Caravan. They made a drug sale at 4 a.m. local time. No one reported them to police, until a victim who had been attacked with scissors called police at 5:40 a.m. local time.
Rampage
“His attacks were unpredictable. As fast as information was coming in about a vehicle he was in—he was abandoning that vehicle,” said Saskatchewan RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore. She said the situation was “very rapidly unfolding, very dynamic and chaotic.”The RCMP said after the brothers forced their way into a house looking for a woman at about 5:30 a.m., Myles Sanderson attacked a victim with scissors. A child was in the home.
Damien intervened and told the injured male to call the police. The RCMP said that when the brothers returned to the vehicle, Myles attacked Damien, who was injured but ran into nearby bushes, where police found him deceased.
Myles Sanderson went to more houses in the community, attacking some victims and murdering others. Some he merely threatened, and police say he stole their vehicles. Police said that during his mission of terror, he bragged about how many people he'd killed.
Inquests Underway
At one point, the suspect entered the home of Gregory Burns, a 28-year-old father, through a window, the RCMP said, attacking him, his mother Bonnie, and two teenagers. Burns died outside the home. Sanderson later returned and killed Bonnie and Lydia Gloria Burns, who worked at a health clinic. Bonnie had called her for help.Sanderson continued on to a different home, this time attacking Thomas Burns, a 23-year-old father, who was stabbed and then run down with a vehicle.
Sanderson ended his killing spree just after 7 a.m. local time, with the death of an elderly man sitting on his front porch in the village of Weldon, Saskatchewan.
The RCMP said they are not able to release all details on the timeline and their investigation, as inquests are underway by the Saskatchewan Coroners Service—one that is looking at the murders, while the other is focused on Sanderson.
There is also another separate investigation being carried out by the Saskatoon Police Service and the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team.
RCMP said they could not discuss why Sanderson was “unlawfully at large,” and would not discuss police response, Sanderson’s arrest and subsequent death, or specific victim details.
They said only that no one reported any of the violent activity undertaken by the brothers before the stabbing spree.
The James Smith Cree Nation has called for the establishment of its own police force.
