Two STARS air ambulances were amongst the massive emergency response to a mass killing on the James Smith Cree Nation in 2022. (file photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Inquest James Smith deaths

170 km/hr drive to James Smith Cree Nation – responding officer testifies

Jan 17, 2024 | 7:34 PM

Editor’s note: This article contains some graphic descriptions of the events on Sept. 4, 2022.

Both of the officers that were the first to respond to reports of stabbings on the James Smith Cree Nation had gone to the reserve the day before, looking for Damien Sanderson.

Constables Tanner Maynard and David Miller drove from the Melfort detachment to James Smith on Sept. 3, the day before the deadly stabbing attack that took the lives of 11 people and injured 17 others.

Skye Sanderson – who is expected to testify tomorrow at the Coroner’s inquest into the deaths – had called police to say Damien had stolen her van and she wanted it back.

Asked by the coroner’s counsel, both Maynard and Miller said that driving to James Smith at 4 am would not be the normal response to the report of a stolen vehicle but Damien had two outstanding arrest warrants.

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“Damien was on warrant status, we went out more to find Damien than to find anything,” said Maynard.

Both of them were from domestic violence situations, also the reason Skye wanted to keep her name confidential.

After searching the community for the missing vehicle, the officers finally saw it the home of Bobby Bear at 28 North Road.

Bobby told the officers that Damien was not there, but gave them permission to search the house.

Miller found the keys to the van on a side table and in the basement, he and Maynard found about five men.

All were asked if they were Damien or if they knew where he was and all said no.

It turned out that one of those men was indeed Damien, he had changed significantly in the 14 years since his police mug shot had been taken.

Not knowing that, Skye was given her keys back and the officers left.

Just over 24-hours later both men would be back on the road to James Smith Cree Mation responding to the first report of a stabbing.

Video showed that while driving, speeds on the RCMP Tahoe reached over 170 km/hr.

“The speed was warranted to get us into the community quicker,” Maynard said.

More reports were coming in but, when they arrived, they knew of three more incidents and that one involved a fatality, so they went there first.

They found Robert Sanderson deceased in the backyard and another victim, still alive.

Paramedics had already been dispatched and were on their way from Prince Albert while the officers were on route so the ambulance was directed to this home.

They started getting more calls of stabbings at which point the response changed.

“It was kind of a tipping point for me,” Maynard said. He realized there was still an active threat and now had to decide how to allocate his resources; between preserving evidence at the crime scenes he knew about and to containing the threat to prevent more injuries.

“I needed to deal with the threat to be sure no one else could be hurt,” said Maynard.

At the home of Carol and Thomas Burns, he found Carol on the floor of the kitchen, surrounded by blood.

Despite knowing she was already gone, he advised a family member to continue CPR.

Maynard broke into tears as he said “you always want to provide a family member with the opportunity to say they did everything for their loved ones.”

While responding to all the calls coming in, Maynard said that his role changed again when he knew that a Corporal and another constable had arrived. They, as senior members, would have the task of catching Myles Sanderson while Maynard would see his role change again.

“As soon as they were there, I could go do dealing with scenes, they could focus on catching the suspect.”

Other resources that were sent out to help from across Saskatchewan included the Saskatoon Police Force’s helicopter, two STARS helicopters, an RCMP dog handler and several COs to maintain crime scenes.

The RCMP emergency response team, which is split between Prince Albert and Regina, sent its closest officers right away.

Rather than have medical personnel try to find all of the victims, the band office was turned into a triage centre and people were brought there for treatment and to keep them in a safe place.

“There are only so many ambulances and we had so many victims,” Maynard said.

At the height of the response, Maynard estimated about 50 RCMP members were in the community alone, with response coming from Nipawin, Tisdale, Wakaw, Prince Albert and Humboldt and further away.

Neither officer had more than a passing knowledge of Myles Sanderson.

The fourth day of the inquest continues Thursday where the spouses of Damien and Myles Sanderson are expected to testify along with the chief of the James Smith Cree Nation.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com