Damien Sanderson told woman at a bar they had a ‘mission to do’ before deadly Saskatchewan rampage
In the days before Myles Sanderson's deadly stabbing rampage began on a Saskatchewan First Nation, he was selling drugs, involved in numerous assaults, and had stolen a vehicle, police said Thursday.
The suspect's brother, Damien Sanderson, who police say was later killed by Myles during a physical altercation, had at one point told a female at a bar in the nearby town of Kinistino that they had a mission to do" and that people would hear all about it in the next few hours".
Police have not released a motive for the stabbing rampage.
The Thursday presentation is scheduled to last for four hours and explore the events that took place Sept. 4, 2022, on and around the James Smith Cree Nation. It is being livestreamed on Facebook.
The rampage was one of the deadliest massacres in Canadian history.
Police said Sanderson was responsible for all 11 deaths during the rampage, including his brother, Damien Sanderson, 31.
Also killed were Bonnie Goodvoice-Burns, 48, Greg Jonesy" Burns, 28, Lydia Gloria Burns, 61, Lana Head, 49, Christian Head, 54, Robert (Bobby) Sanderson, 49, Earl Burns, 66, Thomas Burns, 23, Carol Burns, 46, and Wesley Petterson, 78. All of the victims were from the First Nation except for Petterson, who lived in the nearby village of Weldon.
RCMP first started receiving calls in the early morning hours of Sept. 4. The stabbings sparked a manhunt for the two brothers - Myles and Damien - that lasted for days.
Other details that emerged during the presentation include that the brothers were seen guzzling booze" around the beginning of the stabbing rampage and that Myles used six different vehicles to carry out his crimes.
Damien, who had initially been declared a suspect and charged with murder, was later found dead on James Smith Cree Nation. Myles, believed to be the main suspect, was captured along a rural highway on Sept. 7 and went into medical distress and died, shortly after he was taken into custody, according to the RMCP.
In February, the Saskatchewan Coroners Service said it was hoping to hold two inquests into deaths in January 2024.
The RCMP say the information they're releasing Thursday will not affect the Saskatchewan Coroners Service inquests nor the independent investigation being conducted by the Saskatoon Police Service and the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team into the in-custody death of Myles Sanderson.
The RCMP have recently received significant criticism in light of a mass shooting in Nova Scotia that took the lives of 22 victims in 2020. The Mass Casualty Commission in that province produced a 3,000-page report with a litany of criticisms directed toward the force that included, among other things, the RCMP's failure to co-operate with other agencies, as well as poor communication within the force and with the public both during and after the shooting.
Will update.
Omar Mosleh is an Edmonton-based reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @OmarMosleh