6 Saskatoon stabbings in 6 days has cops scrambling for suspects

Six stabbings in six days, and Job Duncan can barely muster a shrug.

Duncan works as a cook at the Salvation Army on Avenue C and 19th Street, and he's more than familiar with the violence in his neighbourhood.

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"It doesn't mean much because it happens all the time. I'm kind of used to it now because I work here," he said.

"I hear about it all the time, it's usually people who are up to no good anyway, so it's not random stabbings, it's not like you know, normal people walking down the street [and] someone just comes and stabs them. They're into stuff that stabbings are involved with."

Police are still investigating the a rash of stabbings and they said that although they do not appear to be linked, they do share common elements.

They involve men attacking men;  four separate assaults since July 26, with six victims. They all happened within staggering distance of St. Paul's Hospital, and featured largely unco-operative victims.

There have been no arrests and no suspect descriptions. In one case, the victims will not even say where the assault happened.

Duncan said that while drugs and booze play a part, it's often more basic.

"Well it usually has to do with bad conflict resolution skills. That's the main problem, obviously," he said. "Cause then you just go to stabbing people instead of talking it out or fixing the problem the right way."

Ten blocks east at the Lighthouse, Joseph Slater said there is a checklist of possibilities when someone is stabbed and not co-operating.

"There's a lot of things that go on with that," he said. "It could be a drug deal that went wrong or it could just be two people arguing and it turns serious."