People look on as Mark Arcand who's sister Bonnie Burns and nephew Gregory "Jonesy" Burns were killed during a series of violence attacks at James Smith Cree Nation and Brian "Buggy" Burns, Bonnie Burns's husband, speak at a press conference in Saskatoon, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. Photo: VCG

A days-long search for the second man suspected of carrying out a deadly stabbing spree in a remote western Canadian Indigenous community ended Wednesday, with the 32-year-old dying after being taken into custody, police said.

Rhonda Blackmore, Federal police Assistant Commissioner, told a news conference that Myles Sanderson, suspected along with his brother of killing 10 people and wounding 18 on Sunday, "went into medical distress" shortly after being arrested in Saskatchewan province.

She added that he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead, but gave no other details of the circumstances.

On Monday, his 31-year-old brother Damien Sanderson had been found dead in a grassy field in the Cree community.

Authorities said he likely had been killed by his older sibling, who remained a fugitive until his arrest near the town of Rosthern in Saskatchewan.

Blackmore said that with both brothers now dead, "we may never have an understanding of [their] motivation."

The manhunt had stretched across three provinces, and gone from Regina, Saskatchewan province's capital 300 kilometers to the south, and then back to the James Smith Cree Nation - in response to reported sightings.

An AFP reporter at the scene near Rosthern on Wednesday saw several police cars surrounding a white pickup along the side of a highway. 

An hour before the arrest, police issued an alert about a man armed with a knife in a stolen white Chevrolet Avalanche nearby, making a link to the stabbing case and urging locals to shelter in place.

AFP