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A few hours after Canada’s worst school mass shooting in recent history, which left eight people dead and more than 25 injured in British Columbia, police identified the suspect as 18‑year‑old Jesse Van Rootselaar, known to police services due to a past with mental health issues, according to authorities.
The 18‑year‑old was found dead from an apparent self‑inflicted injury after the attack on the school, in which six people — including five students and one teacher — were killed, as well as two people in a home who were later identified as the attacker’s 39‑year‑old mother and 11‑year‑old stepbrother in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, police said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said the victims at the school were not related to Van Rootselaar and the reason for the attack remains unclear.
“There is no information at this point that anyone was specifically targeted,” McDonald said.
Police, who arrived two minutes after the initial call, said that when they arrived, shots were being fired in their direction and that they recovered a long gun and a modified handgun.
Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke as he arrived in Parliament, sending his thoughts to the victims’ families. He said, “Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you.”
He added, “We will get through this.” Meanwhile, flags at government buildings will be flown at half‑staff for the next seven days.
A community in grieving
The rare attack has left a devastated community behind. One member, Shelley Quist, said her neighbour lost her 12‑year‑old. “We heard his mom. She was in the street crying. She wanted her son’s body,” Quist said.
Quist, who was working at the local hospital at the time of the attack, said her 17‑year‑old son was also at the school and was on lockdown for more than two hours. According to the provincial government website, Tumbler Ridge Secondary School had 175 students from grades 7 to 12.
Five of the victims were believed to have been found in the school library, according to RCMP’s McDonald. Quist said that to her knowledge, “The grade sevens and eights, I think, were upstairs in the library, and that’s where the shooter went.” Her son had been in the library just 15 minutes before the attack happened.
“I was about to go run down to the school, but my coworker held me back. And then I was able to get Darian on the phone to know he was OK,” she said.
When the principal walked the school corridors and ordered the doors to be closed, Darian Quist said that was when he knew the attack was real. Other students also sent pictures of blood while he remained in lockdown.
“We used the desk to block the doors,” he said.
Meanwhile, the town’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, said he “broke down” due to the “devastating” news, adding, “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”
Canada has strict gun‑control laws due to the government taking measures after previous mass shootings, including a recently broadened ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.