Eight people are dead, including the shooter, and more than two dozen injured following a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Tuesday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) identified the shooter as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting unfolded in two locations: a home in Tumbler Ridge and Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. According to RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, Van Rootselaar first shot her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at their residence. She then proceeded to the school, where she killed six more people and injured numerous others before taking her own life.
Police responded to the school around 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, initiating an active shooter investigation and ordering a hold-in-place for the local area. Officers encountered gunfire upon arrival, McDonald stated, and entered the school to locate the threat. Van Rootselaar was found deceased within minutes.
The victims at the school included three 12-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy, a 13-year-old boy, and a 39-year-old female teacher. Authorities initially reported six deaths at the school but later corrected the figure to five, after a critically injured woman who had been airlifted to a hospital was initially included in the fatality count.
Two firearms – a long gun and a modified handgun – were recovered at the scene. The RCMP is investigating the origin of these weapons and their role in the shootings. McDonald confirmed that Van Rootselaar had begun transitioning six years ago and identified as female, and that police used her chosen name.
The family home had been the subject of police calls related to mental health and weapons in the past two years, according to the RCMP. Investigators are currently examining the circumstances leading up to the tragedy, including the relationship between Van Rootselaar and the two family members she killed at home.
The small community of Tumbler Ridge, located approximately 700 miles north of Vancouver, remains in shock. The RCMP continues to investigate the incident, with a focus on determining Van Rootselaar’s motives.
