Canada stabbing chief suspect has a history of convictions

As a Canadian Indigenous community comes to grips with a deadly stabbing rampage by two of its own, many blamed rampant drug and alcohol use that they linked to government failures — and others asked why the chief suspect had been recently freed from prison despite a long history of violence.

Myles Sanderson, has 59 criminal convictions, according to parole documents.

He'd been serving a sentence of four years and four months on charges that included assault with a weapon, assault on a peace officer and robbery when he was released.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said he's been told by the parole board there will be an investigation into its assessment of Myles Sanderson, who remained a fugitive and the subject of a large-scale manhunt on Wednesday.

Sanderson, 32, and his brother Damien, are accused of killing 10 people and wounding 18 others in the attacks that spread across the rural reserve and into the nearby town of Weldon, Saskatchewan.

Damien's body was found on Monday near the attacks, and police were investigating whether his brother killed him.

Myles Sanderson's childhood was marked by violence, neglect and substance abuse and led to a “cycle of substance abuse, seeking out negative peers and violent behavior,” the parole documents said.

He lived between his father's home in a city and grandparents' house on a reserve. There was violence and abuse in both households, it said.

Sanderson started drinking and smoking marijuana at around age 12 to cope with problems, the document said. Cocaine followed soon after.

Parole documents said he barged into his ex-girlfriend's home in July 2017 while she was with friends, punched a hole in the door of a bathroom while his two children were hiding in a bathtub and threw a cement block at a vehicle parked outside.

He got into a fight a few days later at a store, threatening to kill an employee and burn down his parent's home, documents said.

That November he threatened an accomplice into robbing a fast food restaurant by hitting him in the head with a firearm and stomping on his head. He then stood watch during the robbery.

In April 2018, he stabbed two men with a fork while drinking and beat someone unconscious.

He got into trouble twice while in prison for having contraband before he was let out in August 2021 on statutory release. But he got into trouble that year and had his release changed for failing to be honest with his parole supervisor about continuing what he acknowledged was a “rocky” relationship with his common-law spouse.

Parole documents also stated he should not enter into relationships — either intimate or non-sexual — with women unless he had prior written permission from his parole officer.

“It is the Board's opinion that you will not present an undue risk to society if released on statutory release,” parole documents said.

But officials say he violated parole, and in May, a Crime Stoppers bulletin was issued for Sanderson, warning he was unlawfully at large.

ALSO WATCH: Canada: 10 dead, more than 15 injured in twin stabbings