Ten people were killed and others injured Sunday in stabbing attacks in two remote regions of Canada, police said, as they launched a manhunt in three provinces for two suspects.
Police identified Damien Sanderson and Miles Sanderson as the suspects and said they were riding in a black Nissan Rogue.
“We have identified 10 deaths at 13 locations in the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon areas of Saskatchewan,” Rhonda Blackmore, Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told a news conference.
The two suspects the police are looking for
She added that “a number of other victims were wounded, including 15 who have so far been transferred to different hospitals,” explaining that the police are looking for “suspects” and are investigating “crime scenes.”
The police issued an alert to residents of each province of Saskatchewan about the presence of a dangerous person.
Blackmore said police received an initial call at 5:40 local time about a knife attack at the James Smith Cree Nation, which has been followed by other attacks.
She added that the authorities believed that “some of the victims were targeted by the two suspects, while the rest were attacked indiscriminately.”
Police issued instructions to residents of the areas where the stabbing incidents occurred, saying: “Do not approach suspicious persons. Do not host roamers. Report suspicious persons, emergencies or information to 911.”
The suspects were initially reported in Regina, the provincial capital of Saskatchewan, more than 300 km to the south.
And then the warning and searches extended to also include the vast neighboring provinces of Manitoba and Alberta.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said it had activated emergency protocols to deal with “a large number of critically ill patients”.
Trudeau: Canada’s mass stabbing ‘appalling and heartbreaking’
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the mass stabbing that left at least 10 people dead and 15 injured in Saskatchewan as “horrific and heartbreaking”.
“The attacks in Saskatchewan today are horrific and heartbreaking,” he wrote on Twitter, adding, “I am thinking about those who have lost loved ones and those who have been injured.”