Flowers and toys on the ground as a memorial for the victims of a shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.JESSE WINTER/The Globe and Mail
A small mining community in northeastern British Columbia is left reeling after six people were killed in a shooting in a high school on Tuesday and another 25 were injured.
RCMP in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., said two other individuals found in a residence connected to the incident are also dead, and that the shooter had died of an injury that was apparently self-inflicted, bringing the death toll to 9.
The RCMP had initially said 10 people were killed, but in an update on Wednesday, they revised the death toll to nine, including the killer. They also identified the shooter as 18-year-old female Jesse Van Rootselaar, a local resident with a history of mental health issues.
The community of 2,400 was in lockdown for hours, with anxious parents separated from their children in what is one of the worst school shootings in Canadian history.
Ten killed, including suspect, in mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
Quinn Campbell, 12, was in the bathroom of the high school, Tumbler Ridge Secondary, when she heard several shots. At first, a teacher told her not to worry, suggesting it may have been a loud sound produced by the school shop.
Moments later, she was told to take cover. She joined roughly 16 other students in the gymnasium equipment room, where they locked the door and turned out the lights.
“I was just thinking about all of my friends, if they were okay. Thinking about my family,” said Quinn, a student in Grade Seven. They stayed inside for several hours, joined by a teacher.
Inside the equipment room, older students attempted to keep up spirits.
“They were mostly trying to cheer me up since I was the youngest one in the room,” Quinn said. “They were trying to make sure I wasn’t going to freak out or anything.”
The shooter, she said, appears to have begun firing on the ground floor before going upstairs in the school.
Her father, Dennis Campbell, gave credit to teachers who “went and protected the kids in that equipment room.”
Latest updates on the Tumbler Ridge school shooting, the suspect and victims
Mr. Campbell is president of the local minor hockey association, which includes 104 players. “Every one of them were in that school,” he said. He believes three of the dead are among his daughter’s friends.
“I can’t even express how we all feel about what just went on. I don’t know how we’re going to get over it right away,” he said. “It’s devastating for us.”
Chris Norbury is a local district councillor whose wife works at the high school and whose five-year-old daughter attends the nearby elementary school. He was among the parents that received notice that the community’s schools had been placed on lockdown.
“It’s an unbelievable tragedy that our community has to live through, that’ll take a very long time for us to heal,” he said.
A mass shooting at a high school Tuesday (Feb.10) in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., has left nine people dead, including the shooter. Authorities say dozens more were injured as the small community struggles to come to terms with the tragedy.
Reuters
Mr. Norbury works at the Tumbler Ridge Visitor Centre, which is located within a block of the high school. After the elementary school called to tell him his daughter was safe, he watched as emergency services gathered around the high school, blocking an access road. A helicopter hovered overhead.
Those who responded, he said, included paramedics and police, many of them intimately connected with those inside.
“The first responders, I can only imagine how they feel, having to see children that they know, fearful they have lost their lives,” Mr. Norbury said.
Mr. Norbury’s family emerged safe, but grief has touched everyone.
“Multiple people have died,” he said. “We all know them. And they were friends. And their parents were our friends.”
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Arianna Bazinet was driving home after having lunch when she saw police cars speeding into town. Moments later, the emergency alert came over her phone.
“I immediately sent it to my mom and said, ‘Hey, stay in the house, don’t go anywhere,’” Ms. Bazinet said. “We had no idea that it had actually started when kids went back to school at lunchtime.”
She learned about the shooting on Facebook from friends in the community. She said one of her friends’ little brothers was in the school at the time, but wasn’t injured. Another friend’s sister was still missing on Tuesday evening.
“They can’t find her, and it’s just horrible,” said Ms. Bazinet, who previously attended school there herself. “We’re hoping to hear good news. We’re praying for good news, but we can only hope.”
The road is blocked off before the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.Jesse Boily/The Canadian Press
Trent Ernst, the publisher and sole reporter of local newspaper TumblerRidgeLines, heard about the shooting from a friend whose children attend the school. Mr. Ernst raced to the scene, immediately going live on Facebook from his car to share everything that was known at the time.
“Basically saying, you know, there’s something happening. We don’t know what. We have a report of a female with brown hair in a dress, active with a gun. And that was all I knew for quite a while,” he said.
One of Mr. Ernst’s children attended the school last year, and Mr. Ernst worked at the school for several months on a contract.
A group of parents gather outside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday as RCMP investigate inside.Trent Ernst/Supplied
He held back emotion as he went live on Facebook again on Tuesday evening, reading out the RCMP press release announcing the staggering death toll.
“I don’t know what to say, other than be strong. Stay safe. Hold your kids tonight if you have ’em,” he said.
“Good day,” he added, to close the livestream. Then he corrected himself. “No. Not a good day.”
School shootings in Canada are relatively rare. In January, 2016, a 17-year-old shot and killed two brothers, his cousins, at their home in La Loche, in northern Saskatchewan. He then proceeded to La Loche Community School, where he fatally shot a teacher and a teacher’s aide. Seven others were injured.
The deadliest school shooting in Canada remains at École Polytechnique, an engineering university in Montréal where a man motivated by a hatred of feminists shot and killed 14 women in December, 1989. Thirteen others were injured.
The Associated Press