Canadian police identify 18-year-old suspect in mass school shooting

Trigger warning: This report contains references to suicide.

OTTAWA, Canada – The suspect in a deadly school shooting in western Canada was an 18-year-old woman with mental health issues who killed her mother and stepbrother before attacking her former school, police said Wednesday, February 11. 

Investigators did not offer a motive for one of the worst mass killings in Canadian history.

The killer, whom police identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, died by suicide after the shooting Tuesday, February 10, in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community of 2,400 people in the Pacific province of British Columbia. Police revised the death toll down to nine, including Van Rootselaar, from the initially reported 10.

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On more than one occasion, Van Rootselaar had been apprehended under the provincial Mental Health Act for assessment, said Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia. She once attended the school but dropped out four years ago.

“Police had attended that (family) residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns related to the suspect’s mental health,” McDonald said.

Unlike in the United States, school shootings are almost unheard of in Canada, and federal politicians initially struggled to maintain their composure.

“We will get through this. We will learn from this,” a visibly upset Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters.

Carney, who at one point looked close to tears, postponed a trip to Europe and ordered flags on all government buildings to be flown at half-staff for the next seven days.

Hours later, legislators in the House of Commons observed a moment of silence and listened as a somber Carney said the killings had left the country in shock and mourning.

“It is a town of miners, teachers, construction workers — families who have built their lives there, people who have always shown up for each other … Tumbler Ridge represents the very best of Canada,” he said.

McDonald said Van Rootselaar, who was born male but began identifying as female six years ago, first killed her mother, 39, and 11-year-old stepbrother at the family home.

She then went to the school, where she shot and killed a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls, and two boys, ages 12 and 13. Police recovered a long gun and a modified handgun.

Dozens were injured, and two severely wounded victims, ages 12 and 19, remain hospitalized.

Police officers who arrived at the scene two minutes after the initial call encountered active gunfire, including rounds fired in their direction, authorities said, before discovering Van Rootselaar dead from an apparent self-inflicted wound.

“We do believe the suspect acted alone … it would be too early to speculate on motive,” McDonald told a news conference, saying police did not have information suggesting anyone had been specifically targeted.

Several prominent world leaders sent messages of condolence. King Charles, Canada’s head of state, said he was “profoundly shocked and saddened” by the deaths.

Among deadliest in Canadian history

Details about some of the victims were slowly emerging Wednesday.

In an anguished Facebook post, Abel Mwansa said his 12-year-old son, also named Abel, had died in the shooting. Abel once cried when his father proposed homeschooling because he loved going to school so much, his father wrote.

Mwansa added that he had raised his son to respect his elders, “be strong, work hard, put a smile on his face like I do, focus on his studies, never miss school, and be a good kid.”

Another woman, Shanon Dycke, said her 12-year-old niece, Kylie May Smith, was among the victims.

“Pray for the other families who have lost their child, or are waiting to hear news,” she wrote on Facebook. “Just pray for Tumbler Ridge.”

The attack sent shock waves through the tiny community.

“Everybody knows everybody,” Jordon Kosik, a resident, said in an interview. “People don’t lock their homes. They don’t lock their cars. You can just go to your neighbor’s house, just walk right in.”

McDonald said police had seized firearms from the family residence about two years ago but returned them after the owner, whom he did not identify, successfully appealed the decision.

Canada has stricter gun laws than the United States, but Canadians can own firearms with a license.

Van Rootselaar previously had a firearms license, but it expired in 2024. Canadians between the ages of 12 and 17 can obtain a minor’s firearms license after taking a firearms safety course and passing tests.

The shooting ranks among the deadliest in Canadian history.

In April 2020, a 51-year-old man disguised in a police uniform and driving a fake police car shot and killed 22 people in a 13-hour rampage in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia before police killed him at a gas station.

In December 1989, a gunman killed 14 female students and wounded 13 others at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal before dying by suicide.

“There’s not a word in the English language that’s strong enough to describe the level of devastation that this community has experienced,” said Larry Neufeld, a provincial legislator.

“It’s going to take a significant amount of effort and courage to repair that terror,” he told CBC News. – Rappler.com