Canada’s leaders mourn victims at site of mass shooting
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and opposition leaders laid flowers at a makeshift memorial as they paid their respects to the victims of one of the country’s worst mass shootings.
Carney hugged and shook hands with other officials as he laid a bouquet at the base of an evergreen tree near the school where a teacher and five teenage students were killed Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.
The Liberal prime minister was joined by Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, as well as leaders of smaller parties.
According to police, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who suffered from a range of mental health issues, killed his mother and half-sibling at home before attacking his old school in Tumbler Ridge, a community of about 2,400 in the Canadian Rockies.
Van Rootselaar, who police said was born male but began identifying as female six years ago, later died by suicide.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said Van Rootselaar was not specifically targeting anyone at the school.
“This suspect was, for lack of a better term, hunting. They were prepared and they were engaging with anyone and everyone they could come into contact with,” he said at a news briefing.
The agency previously said it seized guns from the home where Van Rootselaar lived, but returned them after the homeowner, whom they did not identify, successfully appealed the decision.
The Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights, a pro-gun lobby group, questioned why guns were returned to a home where a person with mental illness lived.
McDonald said the two main weapons used in the attack had not previously been seized by police. He did not address the condition of the other two firearms used in the shooting.
The mass shooting was one of the worst incidents in Canadian history. The deadliest case occurred in April 2020, when a 51-year-old man in Nova Scotia killed 22 people before police shot him to death.
Few townspeople wanted to speak to the media, and British Columbia police said families and friends of the victims requested privacy.
Police named the school victims as 12-year-old Abel Mwansa; Ezekiel Schofield, 13; Kylie Smith, 12; Zoey Benoit, 12; and Commerciala Lampert (12) and teacher Shannda Aviugana-Durand (39).
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Lampert’s mother, Sarah, described her daughter as “a light that shines in the darkness… (who) wants to bring sunshine to everyone and everything she touches.”
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