Canada is mourning after a mass shooting in a small mountain town left eight people dead, including children, in one of the country’s worst acts of violence in recent years.
Police say the suspect, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, carried out the attack in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community of about 2,700 people in British Columbia, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the violence began inside the suspect’s family home, where her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother were killed. A young family member escaped and alerted a neighbour, who called the police.
Within minutes, officers were dispatched to a nearby school that Van Rootselaar had once attended. There, a 39-year-old teacher and five students, three girls and two boys aged 12 to 13, were shot and killed. More than 25 others were wounded, two of them seriously.
Dwayne McDonald, deputy Commissioner of the RCMP said officers arrived at the school two minutes after receiving the emergency call and came under gunfire as they approached.
“The responding officers encountered shots fired in their direction,” McDonald told reporters. “They then located the suspect deceased from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Police recovered a long gun and a modified handgun at the scene.
Authorities said Van Rootselaar had a history of contact with police related to mental health concerns. She had been apprehended under British Columbia’s Mental Health Act for assessment on more than one occasion.
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“Police had attended that residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect,” McDonald said.
He added that Van Rootselaar was born male and began identifying as female six years ago. She had left school four years earlier.
Investigators have not identified a motive and say it is too early to speculate on what led to the attack. Police believe she acted alone and have found no evidence that specific individuals at the school were targeted.
Van Rootselaar once held a firearms licence, but it expired in 2024. Police said she had no weapons registered to her at the time of the shooting. Firearms had been seized from the home in the past but were later returned to the lawful owner after a petition was filed, according to authorities.
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School shootings are rare in Canada, which has strict gun control laws. The country’s last mass killing on a similar scale occurred in 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that claimed nine more lives.
In Tumbler Ridge, a town better known for its quiet streets and mountain views, the shock has been profound.
Darryl Krakowka, the town’s mayor, struggled to contain his emotions as he addressed residents on Wednesday.
“We are one big family,” Krakowka said. “We need to lean on each other right now and support one another through this.”
As investigators continue their work, a grieving community faces the painful task of burying its dead and helping survivors recover from a day that has left scars far beyond this small corner of Canada.
