RCMP’s Blackmore offers details on search for Myles Sanderson

A false alarm interrupted the manhunt for Myles Sanderson on Tuesday.

At 11:40 a.m., the RCMP issued an updated dangerous persons alert saying Sanderson — the suspect in nine murders on the James Smith Cree Nation and one in Weldon — had been seen on the First Nation.

Police vehicles descended on the First Nation with lights flashing and sirens wailing. After an extensive search, just before 3 p.m., the Mounties revealed they didn’t find Sanderson.

As a result, the search continues.

Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, the commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, told 650 CKOM and 980 CJME the Mounties received “more than one report” that Sanderson was on the First Nation and immediately issued the alert.

“We didn’t take the time to corroborate that information as much as we may normally do, but given the violent acts that Myles has already committed, we were not wanting to take any chances, so that alert went out,” Blackmore said.

“We immediately dispatched our resources on the ground — both our frontline resources as well as our Emergency Response Team — and we also conducted aerial searches to attempt to locate or determine if Myles Sanderson was at James Smith Cree Nation.

“Our investigative teams there followed up, they did do some searches, both in residences as well as outdoor searches, and at this point in time, we do not believe that Myles Sanderson is at James Smith Cree Nation.”

Sanderson is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of breaking and entering after Sunday’s rampage. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for his arrest.

His brother, Damien Sanderson, also was charged, but Damien was found dead Monday on the James Smith Cree Nation.

On Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority revealed 10 of the 17 people who were hurt in the attacks remain in hospital. Three were in critical condition and seven were stable.

Blackmore said not all of the victims were stabbed, but she noted investigators hadn’t found that guns were involved. She didn’t elaborate, but did say the causes of deaths won’t be known until the autopsies of the 10 victims and Damien Sanderson were complete.

Despite doing more than 100 interviews with surviving victims and witnesses, investigators have yet to determine a motive for the attacks. There also were 13 crime scenes that had to be processed.

The search for the brothers started Sunday after reports of the attacks were first received by the Mounties. The Regina Police Service ramped up its efforts to find the men after getting a report the vehicle in which they were thought to be travelling was seen in east Regina.

After Tuesday’s turn of events, Blackmore said the investigation isn’t back to Square 1. Officers from across Saskatchewan and the prairie provinces are investigating every tip.

“We are receiving tips from throughout the province, and some of them have possibly more credibility to them than others,” Blackmore said. “We’ve asked the public to call us with any information they might have.

“We don’t want people to think they have vetted the information that, ‘This is important and this is not.’ We would appreciate any information that someone may have. So what that sometimes leads to is information that may not be accurate, but we still encourage people to send us or contact police with any information that they may have and we will determine if it is unfounded or not.”

Sanderson has been wanted on a warrant since May for being unlawfully at large, but he hasn’t been located for that offence — and now he’s again evading police.

Blackmore said Sanderson could be getting help from someone.

“If that’s the case, it’s certainly easier if you have someone helping you to do that,” she said. “If he’s gone to a remote location, which is possible, that could explain why there have been no sightings of him.

“The province of Saskatchewan is a vast geographical area. The RCMP polices 651,000 square kilometres in this province and that’s a significant amount of geography to cover. Not that he could have covered that much area, but he could be in numerous locations throughout the province, some of which, as we know, are very remote.”

Blackmore admitted there’s likely a heightened sense of fear among people with Sanderson on the loose, but she stressed the RCMP’s No. 1 priority is finding him to ease that fear.

“If anyone has any information and if there are individuals out there who are hearing this information (and) who are assisting Myles Sanderson in evading police, we would ask you to do the right thing,” Blackmore said.

“Contact police, put an end to this and help us to restore that sense of security to the people of Saskatchewan and to allow that healing process to begin at James Smith Cree Nation as well as within Weldon. They have a long road of healing ahead of them and that’s not going to start until Myles is securely in custody.”

The complete interview can be heard below.