Canadian police identify suspect in school massacre that left nine dead | Tumbler Ridge school shooting

Canadian police have identified the suspect in a remote school massacre in British Columbia as an 18-year-old woman with a history of mental health issues.

Six people, including one teacher and five students, died in the attack on the town of Tumbler Ridge at the foot of the Rocky Mountains on Tuesday. The victim’s mother and stepbrother were later found dead in the family’s home, police said. The attacker’s body was also found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The incident was one of the worst mass casualty incidents in Canada’s recent history.

“This is an extremely saddening incident in which nine people lost their lives senselessly,” Dwayne McDonald, deputy commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said at a briefing Wednesday, where he narrowed the death toll down to nine from the 10 initially reported.

In a somber update on the tragedy that has shaken the country, McDonald said one of the victims, believed to have succumbed to his injuries, survived but was in a critical condition.

The shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, arrived at Tumbler Ridge middle school Tuesday afternoon armed with a long gun and a modified handgun, according to police. A teacher and five students, aged between 12 and 13, lost their lives when the attacker opened fire on staff and students.

Police arrived two minutes after the shooting and opened fire. When they entered the school, they found the victims in the stairwell and classroom. The body of the attacker was also found.

Police later visited the family’s home and found Van Rootselaar’s 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old half-brother dead by gunshot wounds. The deaths at the family home occurred before the school shooting, according to RCMP deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald, CBC reported.

McDonald said police have been responding to Van Rootselaar’s home for mental health-related calls over the past few years, with some calls involving weapons. On at least one occasion, firearms were confiscated from the home and the legal owner of the firearms petitioned for their return, he said.

Responding to questions about how Van Rootselaar was described in the alerts, McDonald said police “identified the suspect as they chose” publicly and on social media.

“I can say that Jesse was born biologically male, began transitioning to female about six years ago, and identifies as female both socially and publicly,” he said.

McDonald cautioned that the investigation is still in its early stages and police cannot yet comment on a possible motive.

To talk Tumbler Ridge resident Dennis Campbell said his daughter had just emerged from one of the school’s restrooms when the shooting began, CBC reported. According to Campbell, her daughter ran to the gym and hid in the gym.

“Dad, there’s a shooting here, there’s a shooting here,” Campbell recalled her daughter saying, adding that she was mourning the loss of four friends.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said: “What has happened has left our nation in shock and we are all in mourning.

“These children and their teachers bore witness to unheard-of cruelty. I want everyone to know this: our entire country stands with you, on behalf of all Canadians,” he said in an emotional address following a minute of silence in parliament.

Speaking to MPs in the House of Commons after the moment of silence, Carney said:

“Tumbler Ridge… one of the youngest towns in the great province of British Columbia, carved from the wilderness in the 1980s, built with the promise of a resource economy and the determination of its residents. A town of miners, teachers, construction workers, families who built their lives there, people who always had each other’s back there.”

Carney, who has already suspended plans to travel to Germany for the high-level Munich security conference, said he had ordered flags at all government buildings to be flown at half-mast for the next seven days.

She broke down in tears at one point, she told reporters earlier in the day.

“But right now, it is a time to come together, to support each other, to grieve together and to grow together, as Canadians always do in these situations, in these terrible situations.”

The attack stunned people, especially in Canada, where mass shootings are rare compared to the United States. Although the country has relatively high levels of gun ownership, it has implemented much stricter laws than its southern neighbor, including a ban on assault-style firearms and a freeze on handgun sales.

Carney also said he would send federal public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree to the small community of Tumbler Ridge, an isolated town of fewer than 2,500 residents more than 1,000 km (600 miles) northeast of Vancouver by road.

At least two more people were hospitalized with serious or life-threatening injuries and about 25 people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The town’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, said the small community is like “one big family.”

“I was devastated,” Krakowka said. “I’ve lived here for 18 years. I probably know all the victims.”

Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s public safety minister, said “speed and professionalism” saved lives and a small detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police “responded within two minutes.”

A 12-year-old girl was said to be “fighting for her life” at a Vancouver hospital after being shot in the head and neck, according to a widely shared Facebook post in local media said to have been written by the girl’s mother, Cia Edmonds.

“He was a lucky guy, I guess. Our condolences to the other families during this tragedy,” the post read. “This doesn’t even feel real to me.”

The Tumbler Ridge district released a statement Tuesday afternoon, calling the shooting an “extremely distressing” incident. “We recognize that many residents may be shocked, scared and overwhelmed,” the district said. “We know this will be difficult for many in the days ahead. Please check in on each other, rely on the supports available, and know that Tumbler Ridge is a strong and caring community.”

Tumbler Ridge middle school has 160 students in grades 7 through 12, ranging in age from approximately 12 to 18, according to its website. School officials said the school will be closed for the rest of the week and counseling will be provided to those who need it.

“Our priority right now is to look out for each other and restore a sense of safety in our community,” school officials said. in question.

“There are no words that can ease the fear and pain that events like these cause the school community,” the Tumbler Ridge parent advisory council said in a statement. “We want families to know that the safety and well-being of students and staff is paramount, and we are grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel who acted quickly and professionally.”

The attack was the second deadliest school shooting in Canadian history. In 1989, a gunman killed 14 students at L’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in an attack targeting women. In 2016, five people were killed in a series of shootings in La Loche, Saskatchewan.

Following the country’s deadliest mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, which left 22 people dead, Canada banned nearly 1,500 models of assault weapons.

British Columbia Premier David Eby called Tuesday’s attack “an unimaginable tragedy.”

Eby, a father of three, said news of the shooting “makes you want to hug your kids a little tighter.”

“Surround these families with love. Not just tonight, but tomorrow and into the future. This is something that will echo for years to come,” he said.