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Retired Staff Sergeant Darren Simons was the commanding officer at the Melfort detachment when the stabbings happened.
He is today’s witness as the coroner’s inquest enters its fourth day into the mass killing on James Smith Cree Nation in September 2022.
Simons got emotional when questioned by Deborah Burns, the daughter of Earl Burns, who chased Myles Sanderson from a scene in a school bus before succumbing to his injuries.
Over the four days, the inquest has heard that responders passed the school bus, which was still running, in the ditch on the side of the road. The officers said they noted the bus, but continued past. Simons was one of those officers.
Simons said he didn’t stop to check out the bus because he was concentrating on getting to scenes where they knew there were hurt or dead people.
“I never imagined I would find what I found when I opened that bus door,” Simons expressed.
Starting in on Day four of the James Smith Cree Nation inquest pic.twitter.com/V6pcNboswy
— Lisa Schick (@LMSchickler) January 18, 2024
Simons was eventually directed to go check out the bus and took a conservation officer with him, that’s when Earl Burns Sr. was found.
“I apologize that your father did not get my attention earlier. I did not know he was a veteran until afterwards,” said Simons.
He noted he spent two years in the armed forces and he considers every veteran family. He regrets missing the funeral but couldn’t attend due to Covid.
Earlier Thursday, Simons detailed how he received the initial report about three stabbings on JSCN, though he didn’t know if these incidents were separate or reports of the same thing. He said knew there were already officers on the first nation, so he called to a restaurant and ordered 10 breakfast sandwiches and 20 drinks and picked them up before heading out — he said he wanted the officers to be able to concentrate on their investigation.
Read More:
Inquest Day 3
Inquest Day 2
Inquest Day 1
Simons said, at the time, he didn’t know the extent of the incident. “Looking back, I wouldn’t have done that if I’d have know what we were dealing with,” he said.
Explaining, when he arrived to the triage centre at the band office, Simons said “It just didn’t seem real. All the people hurt and lined up — some laying down, some sitting.”
He was surprised by the number of people whose wounds were in the head, neck and shoulders.
Simons said RCMP officers from all over came in to help. They came in on days off, back early from vacation, and from neighbouring detachments.
He said when the emergency alert came out, one member was combining and called his wife to come out and bring the kids because he had to go.
Simons also praised the conservation and highway patrol officers who came out to help, saying they did things like secure the triage centre which left RCMP members free to go do other things.
He said, if there had been a security team on JSCN at the time of the stabbings, he would have told them not to intervene because they don’t have the same protections and interventions as police, like tasers and guns.
Up next, the inquest expected to hear from Vanessa Burns and Skye Sanderson. Vanessa was Myles’ wife. Skye was Damien’s wife. They may give evidence on what they saw in the days leading up to the killing.