The latest suspect in the attacks that left 10 dead and 18 injured on Sunday in central Canada has died following his arrest that ended a three-day hunt, according to media reports.
At the end of the followingnoon, the police announced his arrest on social networks. The 32-year-old man “was located and taken into custody near Rosthern, Saskatchewan at around 3:30 p.m.” (11:30 p.m. in Switzerland). At the end of the day, more than a dozen police cars were still at the scene of the arrest, surrounding a pick-up stopped in the ditch south of Rosthern, noted an AFP journalist on the spot.
The suspect, who was still armed with a knife, was spotted following stealing a car in an area regarding 100 km from the crime scene. The police had been tracking the 32-year-old man since Sunday, suspected of being responsible, with his brother, for one of the deadliest attacks in recent years in the country.
Known to the police and the justice system for multiple acts of violence and theft, he had already been wanted since last May for not having respected his judicial control. Monday, the body of his brother, suspected of being his accomplice, was found, larded with several stab wounds near the scene of the crimes. The circumstances of his death remain to be clarified, but he might have been killed by his brother, according to the police.
Identity of victims revealed
“As we do not know where he is, we ask the population to take the necessary precautions,” repeated the police tirelessly, who had extended the search area to the entire province of Saskatchewan, a vast rural territory made up of huge meadows.
On Wednesday, authorities revealed the identities of those killed, nine out of 10 from the James Smith Cree Nation Indigenous community, and the last from the nearby village of Weldon. They are men and women between the ages of 23 and 78. And among the injured, there is a “young teenager” and seventeen adults, added the federal police.
In Canada, aboriginal people represent approximately 5% of the 38 million inhabitants, and live in communities often ravaged by unemployment and poverty. They are also more often victims of homicide.
afp/br