Police and investigators are seen at the side of the road outside Rosthern, Sask., on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. Eleven people were killed and 17 were injured during a stabbing rampage on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon, Sask., last year. Myles Sanderson, who police say carried out the attacks, later died in police custody. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu
JAMES SMITH CREE NATION, SASKATCHEWAN – Eleven people were killed and 17 were injured during a stabbing rampage on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon, Sask., last year. Myles Sanderson, who police say carried out the attacks, later died in police custody. RCMP have released more details about how the attacks unfolded. Here is a timeline:
Thursday, Sept. 1:
Myles Sanderson arrives at James Smith Cree Nation and sells cocaine.
Friday, Sept. 2:
Sanderson assaults a woman who is driving him around. He and his brother Damien Sanderson continue to sell cocaine.
Saturday, Sept. 3:
12:00 a.m. – The brothers get into a fight with a man, which police believe is drug-related. No one is seriously injured.
4:03 a.m. – A person calls RCMP saying Damien Sanderson has stolen a vehicle on the First Nation and may be impaired.
4:15 a.m. – Two Mounties respond and look for Damien Sanderson. There is a warrant out for his arrest for a previous assault.
5:35 a.m. – Police find the stolen vehicle at a home on the First Nation. Damien Sanderson is inside, but he looks different than a 2014 prison photo that police have. Sanderson also gives officers a different name. There is no mention of Myles Sanderson.
5 p.m. – The brothers assault Gregory Burns at a home, then separate.
6 p.m. – Damien Sanderson goes to a bar in a neighbouring community and tells a woman that he and his brother have “a mission” and “people would hear all about it in the next few hours.” He returns to James Smith before midnight.
Sunday, Sept. 4:
3:30 a.m. – The brothers take a grey van from a home on the First Nation.
4 a.m. – The pair make their last known drug sale.
4:45 a.m. – They return to a home on the First Nation and leave in the van. RCMP say it is the starting point of the rampage.
5:30 a.m. – The brothers force themselves into a home looking for a woman who’s not there.
5:40 a.m. – The brothers force themselves into another home and attack a man with scissors. As Myles Sanderson leaves, he grabs a knife from the kitchen, and the victim calls 911. The brothers get into a fight in the van outside and an injured Damien Sanderson runs into the bush, where he is later found dead.
5:43 a.m. – Two Mounties from the Melfort detachment, 45 kilometres away, are dispatched to the First Nation.
5:59 a.m. – A second call comes in about two injured people at a home on the First Nation.
6:03-6:07 a.m. – Myles Sanderson kills Robert Sanderson, 49, at one home, and kills Christian Head, 54, and his wife, Lana Head, 49, at another home. Myles Sanderson steals Christian Head’s truck.
6:07 a.m. – Sanderson goes to a home and attacks Bonnie Burns and two children. He kills Gregory Burns, 28.
6:14 a.m. – Sanderson attacks a man and woman at another home and steals an SUV.
6:18 a.m. – Officers arrive at the first crime scene.
6:19 a.m. – Sanderson attacks his former father-in-law, Earl Burns, 66, and his wife at a home. Sanderson drives away, while Burns chases him in a school bus. The bus rolls in a ditch and Burns dies on the bus.
6:20 a.m. – One of the officers leaves the first scene to go to the second scene.
6:24 a.m. – Sanderson goes to a home and attacks two men, injuring one of them.
6: 29 a.m. – Sanderson attacks Thomas Burns, 23, his mother Carol Burns, 46, and two men inside a home. Thomas Burns goes outside, Sanderson follows him and hits him with the stolen SUV. Sanderson gets out of the vehicle and attacks Thomas Burns again. Both Thomas and Carol Burns die.
6:32 a.m. – An officer arrives at the second scene.
6:35 a.m. – RCMP start to draft an emergency alert due to “significant risk” to the public.
6:36-6:47 a.m. – Sanderson is confronted by a woman at one of the homes but she is not injured. He goes to another home, where he attacks a woman and man and takes a red van, which he later abandons in a grassy area.
6:43 a.m. – Sanderson takes a cellphone and black SUV from another home.
6:53 a.m. – Sanderson goes back to the home where he killed Gregory Burns and attacks Bonnie Burns again. He also kills Lydia Burns, who went to the home to help. Both women die.
7 a.m. – Sanderson asks a woman at a home in nearby Kinistino for money and gas. He leaves in the black SUV without hurting her.
7:08 a.m. – Video surveillance from a gas station in Kinistino shows Sanderson is driving towards Weldon.
7:12 a.m. – RCMP issue a dangerous persons alert. Residents are told to seek immediate shelter.
7:27 a.m. – Weldon residents report seeing the black SUV and Sanderson in the community. There’s a report that a vehicle has been rummaged through and a first aid kit and crowbar stolen.
7:57 a.m. – RCMP name Damien and Myles Sanderson as suspects and release their photos.
8:19 a.m. – Myles Sanderson kills Wesley Petterson, 78, at a home in Weldon.
8:20 a.m. – RCMP extend the dangerous persons alert across Saskatchewan.
3:45 p.m. – Police say 10 people have been killed and 15 injured across 13 locations.
Monday, Sept. 5:
11:39 a.m. – RCMP say the brothers have been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and break and enter. Mounties also say the number of injured has risen to 18 (later revised to 17).
1:17 p.m. – RCMP say the body of Damien Sanderson has been found on the First Nation.
3:50 p.m. – RCMP say Myles Sanderson may be wounded.
Tuesday, Sept. 6:
11:40 a.m. – A notice on Saskatchewan’s emergency alert system says there is a possible sighting of Myles Sanderson on the First Nation. People are advised to stay inside.
2:56 p.m. – RCMP say Sanderson is not in the community.
Wednesday, Sept. 7:
2:07 p.m. – Sanderson is reported to be standing outside of a home with a knife in Wakaw. He takes a white pickup truck and a woman’s cellphone.
2:30 p.m. – Sanderson is spotted driving around One Arrow First Nation.
2:49 p.m. – An emergency alert warns a person armed with a knife has been spotted driving a white Chevrolet Avalanche stolen from Wakaw.
3:17 p.m. – A Mountie in an unmarked car sees Sanderson on a highway headed toward Rosthern.
3:21 p.m. – Police chase Sanderson in the stolen truck.
3:28 p.m. – RCMP force the truck off the road and into a ditch. Sanderson, who is in the driver’s seat, is arrested.
3:33 p.m. – Sanderson goes into medical distress and is taken by ambulance to a hospital in Saskatoon, where he dies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2023.
