A photo taken at the time of the incident. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Crime

‘I feared for my life’: charges laid following stabbing outside Prince Albert grocery store

Mar 16, 2022 | 5:00 PM

A man is facing a charge of aggravated assault in connection to an incident Tuesday night outside Prince Albert’s Real Canadian Superstore.

Eagleclaw Sanderson, 22, from Saskatoon, made his first court appearance Wednesday morning, and was granted release from custody until his next court date on March 30.

The victim, who was stabbed near the heart, is recovering at home. He spoke to paNOW on Wednesday. In order to protect the man’s identity, he will be identified in this story as Steve.

Steve explained he had picked up some groceries, and as he was coming out of the store, noticed a large drunk man trying to intimidate two smaller men, getting in their face, and had his hands up ready to swing. Noticing how scared the two men appeared, Steve put down the cans he was carrying and stepped into help.

“I figured with the three of us, obviously he’s not gonna do anything,” he said.

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Steve would be wrong and moments later, more people emerged from the nearby vehicles and came towards the store entrance. A man wearing a red shirt told Steve he was going to stab him.

“I didn’t know what they had in those vehicles, I didn’t know about weapons like I seriously was scared and I feared for my life,” Steve said.

At this point, Steve began to walk towards his vehicle, and attempted to apologize to the three people advancing on him.

“I said sorry…I said, you win…I’m out,” he said.

The three people, two men and a woman, didn’t listen and continued to advance on Steve, taunting him, and telling him to go get his cans.

“I knew if I bent over for those cans, I was gonna get stabbed so that’s why I was going away,” he said.

The woman picked up the cans and threw them at Steve, and soon after the man in the red shirt, charged at him in a stabbing motion. Defending himself, Steve was able to push his attacker away, but the woman lunged forward and grabbed him. Steve said he told her he did not want to fight or hit a girl.

“I had to knock her out …I knocked the other guy out … and then the guy with the knife came at me and I hit him while he was stabbing at me,” he said.

Steve and the man fell to the ground wrestling, and fighting over the knife. Eventually a bystander stepped in and helped kick the knife away.

After getting in the van, Steve said he realized he could not let his attackers get away with what they had done. Fearing what they would do should they get the knife back, he said he decided to get back out and go after his attackers. He hit the bigger guy first, then went over to the man in the red shirt, who crawled away after being knocked down.

“Adrenaline just took over,” Steve said.

Upon realizing his attackers would not be getting back up, Steve recalled standing in the parking lot, checking to make sure people would be calling the cops. Steve’s shirt was by this time soaked in blood and a doctor would later inform him he had a 3.5 cm cut in his chest that narrowly missed his heart and lungs.

“He tried to kill me, like that’s where he was stabbing me every time. He didn’t want to stab me in the stomach,” Steve said.

Nearly 24 hours after the incident, Steve was still expressing regret over the fact he knocked the woman out, but explained he found himself in a situation where he did what he had to do. Helping assist with his mental state though is the fact the two men he helped have reached out, thanking him for what he did for them.

One of the video recordings of the incident has been shared on social media over a 1,000 times, and support comments made by Steve. At one point, he can be heard yelling from his own van for help.

“Call the cops .. he stabbed me .. my phone’s dead.”

Police continue to investigate, and have indicated more charges are pending.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell