WEYBURN - The recent tragic events here in Saskatchewan that saw two brothers, Damien and Myles Sanderson from James Smith Cree Nation, go on a stabbing spree will take a long, long time for people to get over, and many questions need to be answered about what happened and why.
Some of the details are known, but many are not, understandable as the RCMP need to fully investigate the how, when and why these stabbings took place in 13 locations.
The Sanderson brothers are alleged to have killed 10 people and injured 18, and the death of Damien makes for the 11th victim, although it is unclear how this occurred.
As of this writing, the hunt for Myles Sanderson is continuing, and the investigation into this whole tragic, violent event is unfolding.
Following the mass death event in April of 2020 in Nova Scotia where 22 people were shot and killed, the RCMP were not going to take any chances with this incident, and issued the provincewide alerts to make sure word got out that there were two dangerous suspects out there.
This was a smart and prudent move, as you really can’t be too cautious where public safety is concerned.
Nobody could have known that such a violent spree could happen, with 10 people being killed and 18 injured, a number of them in critical condition.
Why were these attacks made? What could have driven these two men to kill or attempt to kill so many people?
Were there personal family pressures happening, or were people mistreated or hurt in some way? There are also questions about the criminal past of the brothers and how their paroles were handled.
These will be questions for a very long time to come by investigators, community leaders, and mental health professionals.
The hope is if there were mistakes made or shortfalls in how people were treated or hurt, there will be remedies put in place and awareness made that there is help for people when it’s needed.
Meantime, many families are grieving and hurting today, and many are anxious and worried about those who were injured by the attempt on their loved ones’ lives.
The ripple effects of these tragedies will go far into the respective communities and even throughout the province. The hope is that the community at large of residents around the province will provide support and love to these families, and to the communities where this tragedy unfolded.
There are sure to be many lessons to take from what unfolded and how emergency personnel responded – and they too will need support. The police, doctors and nurses, and many others who responded, will likely be in need of some of that love and support as they dealt with a horrific and terrifying situation.
