Rosthern: The last suspect in the stabbing case that created an atmosphere of terror in Western Canada in the last few days has committed suicide while being apprehended. The accused committed suicide after four days of struggle. The police said that this news will bring some peace to the families of the victims.

The suspect, 32-year-old Myles Sanderson, allegedly injured himself after being chased by police while driving a stolen car on a highway in Saskatchewan, an officer said. But MAT officials refused to give more information but expressed relief the final suspected killer was no longer on the loose.

"Our province will breathe a sigh of relief this evening," Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan, said at a news conference Wednesday night.

Sanderson's 30-year-old brother, Damien Sanderson, was found dead near the scene of a bloody knife attack in and around the James Smith Cree First Nation reserve early Sunday morning. Both were residents of indigenous reserves.

Blackmore said Myles Sanderson was cornered as police units responded to a stolen vehicle being driven by a man armed with a knife. She said officers forced Sanderson's vehicle off the road and into a ditch. He was detained and a knife was found inside the vehicle, she said.

Sanderson's condition worsened while in custody, and emergency medical personnel attempted to administer CPR before an ambulance arrived and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Blackmore said.

"We had taken all the life-saving measures we could," she said.

Blackmore did not release any details about the cause of death.

Video and photos from the scene showed a white SUV off to the side of the road with police cars all around. Airbags had been deployed in the SUV. Some photos and video is taken from a distance appeared to show Sanderson being frisked.

An independent investigation by members of Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team went to the arrest site and will review Sanderson's death and police conduct.

Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendezino said the incidents would be investigated.

“You have questions. We have questions," he told reporters during a Cabinet retreat in Vancouver, British Columbia, adding: "There will be two levels of police who will be investigating the circumstances of Myles Sanderson's death."

His death came two days after the body of Damien Sanderson was found in a field near the scene of the knife rampage. Police are investigating whether Myles Sanderson killed his brother.

Blackmore said that with both men dead, authorities will find it difficult to figure out what set off the rampage.
"Now that Myles is deceased we may never have an understanding of that motivation," she said.

But she said the families of the stabbing victims hope to find solace in the fact that the Sanderson brothers' threats ended in death.

Some family members of the victims, including Brian Burns, whose wife and son was killed, arrived at the scene on Wednesday.

“Now we can start to heal. The healing begins today, now,” he said.

The stabbings raised questions about why Myles Sanderson — an ex-con with 59 convictions and a long history of shocking violence — was out on the streets in the first place.

He was released by a parole board in February while serving a sentence of over four years on charges that included assault and robbery. But he had been wanted by the police since May, apparently for violating the terms of his release, although the details were not immediately clear.

His long and lurid rap sheet also showed that seven years ago, he attacked and stabbed one of the victims killed in Sunday's stabbings, according to court records.

Mendicino, the public safety minister, has said there will be an investigation into the parole board's assessment of Sanderson.

"I want to know the reasons behind the decision" to release him, Mendicino said. "I'm extremely concerned with what happened here. A community has been left reeling.”

The Saskatchewan Coroner's Service said nine of those killed were from the James Smith Cree Nation: Thomas Burns, 23; Carol Burns, 46; Gregory Burns, 28; Lydia Gloria Burns, 61; Bonnie Burns, 48; Earl Burns, 66; Lana Head, 49; Christian Head, 54; and Robert Sanderson, 49. The other victim was from Weldon, 78-year-old Wesley Patterson.

Authorities would not say if the victims might be related.

Court documents said Sanderson attacked his in-laws Earl Burns and Joyce Burns in 2015, knifing Earl Burns repeatedly and wounding Joyce Burns. He later pleaded guilty to assault and threatening Earl Burns' life.

Many of Sanderson’s crimes were committed when he was intoxicated, according to court records. He told parole officials at one point that substance use made him out of his mind. Records showed he repeatedly violated court orders barring him from drinking or using drugs.

Many of Canada’s Indigenous communities are plagued by drugs and alcohol.

Myles Sanderson’s childhood was marked by violence, neglect and substance abuse, court records show. Sanderson, who is Indigenous and was raised on the Cree reserve, population 1,900, started drinking and smoking marijuana at around 12, and cocaine followed soon after.

In 2017, he barged into his ex-girlfriend’s home, punched a hole in the door of a bathroom while his two children were hiding in a bathtub and threw a cement block at a vehicle parked outside, according to parole documents.

He got into a fight a few days later at a store, threatening to kill an employee and burn down his parents’ home, documents said.

That November he threatened an accomplice into robbing a fast-food restaurant by clubbing him with a gun and stomping on his head. He then stood to watch during the holdup.

In 2018, he stabbed two men with a fork while drinking and beat someone unconscious.