Police said the stabbings took place at several locations in the nation of James Smith Cree and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon.
Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan, said some of the victims appeared to have been targeted by the suspects, but others appeared to have been indiscriminately attacked. The Associated Press said it could not provide a motive.
“It’s horrific what happened in our county today,” Blackmore said, adding that there were 13 crime scenes where dead or injured people were found.
It is among the deadliest mass killings in Canadian history. The deadliest armed attack in Canadian history occurred in 2020 when a man disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people. A man used a truck to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto in 2019. But mass killings are less common in Canada than in the United States.
Blackmore said police began receiving reports before 6 a.m. of stabbings in the First Nation community. More reports of attacks soon followed, and at midday police issued a warning that a car carrying the suspects had been seen in Regina, about 335 kilometers (208 miles) south of the communities where the stabbings occurred.
Police said the latest information they got from the public was that the suspects were seen there at lunchtime. There have been no sightings since then.
Regina Police, Evan Bray, said late Sunday that it still believed the suspects were in the city of Regina, and urged residents to follow alerts and provide information if they are.
“If you’re in the Regina area, take precautions and consider shelter. Don’t leave a safe place. Don’t go near suspicious people. Don’t pick up hikers. Report suspicious people, emergencies or information to 9-1-1,” the RCMP said. In a message on Twitter, “Do not disclose police sites.”
The suspects have been identified as Damian Sanderson, 31, and Miles Sanderson, 30. The Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers released a wanted list last May that included Miles, writing that he was “unlawfully at large”.
Doreen Less, an 89-year-old grandmother from Weldon, said she and her daughter thought they saw a suspect when a car skidded down her street early in the morning while her daughter was having coffee on its roof. Lees said a man approached them and said he was injured and needed help.
But Lees said the man took off and ran after her daughter said she would seek help.
“He wouldn’t show his face. He had a big sweater on his face. We asked for his name and he wrote his name twice and we still couldn’t get it.” “He said his face was so badly injured that he couldn’t show it.”
She said the guy was alone and “kind of wiggled a little.”
“I followed him a few ways to see if he would be alright. My daughter said, ‘Don’t follow him, come back here.’”
Weldon residents identified one of the victims as Wes Peterson. Ruby Works said the 77-year-old widow was just like her uncle.
“I collapsed and fell to the ground. I’ve known him since I was just a little girl,” she said, describing the moment she heard the news. She said he loved his cats, was proud of his homemade Saskatoon raspberry jam, and often helped his neighbors.
Didn’t do anything. It wasn’t worth this. Works said: He was a good and kind hearted man.
She said the event shook a community where sirens are rarely heard.
“No one will sleep in this city again. She said they would be afraid if they opened their doors
Weldon resident Robert Rush also described the victim as a nice man and widow in his 70s.
He said, “It will not harm a fly.”
Rush said Peterson’s adult grandson was in the basement at the time and called the police.
At the Weldon Christian Tabernacle Church, congregants began their regular Sunday mass with a special prayer service for the victims and their families.
At James Smith Cree Nation, a store that also serves as a gas station became a gathering place for members of the community, who greeted each other with tears and hugs.
“Due to safety concerns in our community, we will remain closed until further notice,” read a sign attached to the door.
The elected leaders of the three communities that make up the nation of James Smith Cree, including the Chacastebasin Band and Peter Chapman’s Band, declared a local emergency on Sunday.
Chakastaypasin’s president, Calvin Sanderson, said he left his phone switched off Sunday morning and only learned of the tragic events when community members came to his door to check on him. He has nothing to do with the two accused.
He said: Everyone is affected.
They were our relatives and friends. Mostly we’re all so attached to each other here, so it’s really hard, Sanderson said. “It is very horrific.”
The emergency declaration, issued by the Sovereign Indigenous Peoples Federation, said two emergency operations centers had been established.
President Bobby Cameron of the Confederation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said.
The suspects were sought when fans descended on Regina for the annual Labor Day sold-out match between the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Rogriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Regina Police Service said in a press release that it has been working with the Mounties on several fronts to locate and arrest suspects, and has “deployed additional public safety resources throughout the city, including the football match at Mosaic Stadium.”
The alert first issued by Melfort and the Saskatchewan RCMP around 7 a.m. was extended after hours to cover Manitoba and Alberta, where the two suspects remained at large.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said many patients were receiving treatment in several locations.
“A call for additional staff has been issued to respond to the influx of casualties,” authority spokeswoman Ann Lynman said in an email.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that he was “shocked and shocked by the horrific attacks”.
“As Canadians, we mourn everyone affected by this tragic violence, and with the people of Saskatchewan,” Trudeau said.
Fatal mass stabbings are much rarer than mass shootings but they do occur all over the world. In 2014, 29 people were murdered and stabbed to death at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming. In 2016, a mass stabbing at a facility for the mentally disabled in Sagamihara, Japan, killed 19 people. A year later, three men killed eight people in a car attack and stabbing at London Bridge.