Chilling photos emerge of Canadian school shooter who killed eight | World | News
Photos have surfaced showing the young gunman behind one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings; In one photo, the young attacker is seen grinning at the camera with a rifle in his hand.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, had been expelled from Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia before returning to carry out the attack. He died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing six people inside the building.
The images were shared by his grandmother on Facebook to mark her 14th birthday in 2021.
“Happy 14th birthday to our grandson Jesse!! Love you always!! XOXO,” the post read.
In one deeply disturbing photo, Van Rootselaar was sitting on a couch next to a young child and smiling at the camera while holding a rifle.
His mother and stepbrother were killed first
Her mother, whom CTV News identified as 39-year-old Jennifer Strang, and her 11-year-old half-brother were killed at a private address before heading to school. Six more victims died at Tumbler Ridge High School.
In total, approximately 25 people were injured. Surviving students and teachers described hiding behind barricaded classroom doors for more than two hours until law enforcement removed them from the building.
Transgender identity confirmed
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said Van Rootselaar was “born a biological male… he began to transition into a female approximately six years ago and identified as a female.”
After the first active shooter alert identified the gunman as such, first responders arriving at the scene were told to look for “a woman wearing a dress.”
Van Rootselaar was no stranger to the police. Officers had gone to the family’s home several times in previous years, each time out of concern for his mental state.
The guns had previously been removed from the property, but the registered owner, who was not named by McDonald, took legal action to get them back.
Officers seized a long gun and a modified handgun from the school building, and questions remain about whether they are the same firearms previously seized.
One of Canada’s deadliest shootings
The death toll shows that the attack was among the worst in the country’s history.
Canada’s most famous school massacre occurred in 1989, when 14 female students died at L’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
In the wake of a succession of mass shootings, Canadian authorities have significantly tightened firearms legislation, with a recent expansion of the ban covering what are considered assault-style weapons.
