One of the most brutal series of violence in recent years has shaken Canada: according to the police, at least ten people had been stabbed to death early on Sunday morning in a rural region, the two suspected perpetrators were still on the run on Monday. The fugitives were last seen on Sunday afternoon in an SUV in Regina, the capital of the province of Saskatchewan in the middle of the country. It is around 300 kilometers south of the crime scene. According to their own statements, the police have set up checkpoints and classified the alleged perpetrators as "armed and dangerous". 15 injured were also taken to hospitals for treatment, no further details on the condition of the victims were given.
There was no further information on the motive for the cruel acts early Monday morning. "It appears that some of the victims were targeted and some were chosen at random," police officer Rhonda Blackmore said on Sunday. "It would therefore be extremely difficult to name a motive at this point." There are 13 crime scenes where it is determined that people have not been killed everywhere.
The victims were attacked in two locations in Saskatchewan -- the James Smith Cree Nation Indigenous Reservation and the village of Weldon, Blackmore said. The first emergency call was received at 5.40 a.m. on Sunday morning, and in the minutes that followed further attacks from nearby crime scenes were reported. Shortly after 7 a.m., the police issued an initial warning to the population about the suspects.
Four hours later, the two are said to have been seen in the provincial capital Regina, which is further south. City Police Chief Evan Bray posted a video on Twitter Sunday night saying the two were "probably" still in town. The search for the two continued throughout the night with a lot of effort and emergency services. Local residents had told a journalist from US radio NPR that the suspects were brothers, but the police have not yet confirmed this.
The James Smith Cree Nation has more than 3,400 members, according to their website, with nearly 2,000 living on their reservation. According to the Saskatchewan Encyclopedia, the site, where much of the economic activity is centered on agriculture and ranching, is home to an office, school, fire department, and community center, among other things. The reserve's elected leaders declared a state of emergency after the killings.
In a statement, an indigenous association suggested drugs as one reason for the attacks. "This is the destruction we must deal with when illicit drugs enter our communities," wrote Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN). "We require all authorities to listen more to chiefs, councilors and tribal members to create safer and healthier communities for our peoples."
In addition to Saskatchewan, police also searched the neighboring provinces of Manitoba and Alberta for the two male suspects, aged 31 and 30. The area of these three provinces in central Canada is more than five times the size of Germany. Saskatchewan alone is almost twice the size of Germany, but very sparsely populated with just under 1.2 million inhabitants.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was shocked. "Today's attacks in Saskatchewan are appalling and heartbreaking," Trudeau wrote on Twitter. Provincial Prime Minister Scott Moe also expressed his condolences on behalf of his government. "All of Saskatchewan mourns with the victims and their families," wrote Moe of the Conservative Saskatchewan Party on Twitter.
