A family pays their respects at a memorial for the victims of a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Thursday.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
02/12/26 22:08
What we know so far about the victims of the shooting
- Globe staff
In a statement released by the RCMP, Kylie Smith’s family said she loved her friends, family and going to school.HO/The Canadian Press
A budding scientist. An aspiring artist. A keen hockey player.
Tumbler Ridge, B.C., a remote mining community of 2,400 people tucked against the foothills of the Rockies, is mourning in the aftermath of a mass shooting at the town’s secondary school on Tuesday.
Eight people were killed, including five 12- and 13-year-old children at the school, an educator and two family members at a nearby home. The youngest victim was the teenaged shooter’s 11-year-old half-brother, and two others sustained significant injuries. The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Hundreds assembled in the town’s centre for a vigil on Wednesday evening to remember those killed.
On Thursday, the RCMP published the names of the eight victims. While the RCMP initially said 25 people had been injured, it subsequently revised that down to two people who were airlifted to hospital in Vancouver.
Relatives have posted tributes to social media, and friends have launched fundraisers to support the grieving families.
Read the stories of the victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting here.
02/12/26 17:30
B.C. Lieutenant-Governor says her ‘heart aches’ for those affected by the tragedy
- Justine Hunter
B.C. Lieutenant-Governor Wendy Cocchia delivered a short and heartfelt message from Victoria to the people of Tumbler Ridge on Thursday.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
British Columbia’s Speech from the Throne on Thursday was like no other. The second session of B.C.’s 43rd Parliament was stripped of all the usual pomp and ceremony. There was no red carpet, no brass bands, no inspection of the honour guard, no booming echo of cannon fire across the Victoria harbour.
Lieutenant-Governor Wendy Cocchia entered the legislature through a side door and delivered a short and heartfelt message to the people of Tumbler Ridge.
“Our thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones and a tight-knit community suffering unimaginable pain. We hold them in our prayers and stand with them in their grief,” her speech began.
“As a mother, it’s impossible to comprehend the pain and grief you’re experiencing. Nobody thinks when they see their child or loved one, off for the day, they won’t be returning. My heart aches for the families, students and everyone.”
The session required a formal opening but on this day, legislators set their politics aside.
Read more about the B.C. Throne Speech here.
02/12/26 17:13
B.C. Lieutenant-Governor delivering Throne Speech
02/12/26 16:24
RCMP name victims of shooting
RCMP have named those who died in a mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Tuesday, including the five children and teacher who were killed at a school and the mother and stepbrother of the shooter who were found dead in a local residence.
The victims at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School were:
- Abel Mwansa, 12
- Kylie Smith, 12
- Zoey Benoit, 12
- Ticaria Lampert, 12,
- Ezekiel Schofield, 13
- Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39
The mother of the shooter is identified as Jennifer Jacobs, who was also known as Jennifer Strang, 39, who died at her home with 11-year-old Emmett Jacobs.
- The Canadian Press
02/12/26 15:39
Federal party leaders will join Carney in Tumbler Ridge on Friday
– Emily Haws
The offices of all party leaders have confirmed they will join Prime Minister Mark Carney tomorrow.
That includes Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, interim NDP Leader Don Davies and Green Leader Elizabeth May.
02/12/26 15:00
B.C. Legislature holds moment of silence
B.C. Lieutenant-Governor Wendy Cocchia entered the province’s legislature after the MLAs held a formal moment of silence at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. local time). Ms. Cocchia is set to deliver a Throne Speech honouring the victims once the session resumes at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local time).
02/12/26 13:37
Memorial site grows in Tumbler Ridge
– Alanna Smith
B.C. Premier David Eby and Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger lay flowers on Thursday at a memorial for the victims.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
Community members hugged and cried at the memorial site set up on Thursday morning for victims of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, adding flowers and teddy bears to a growing pile of sentimental tributes.
Among those placing flowers at the site was B.C. Premier David Eby.
The previous night, hundreds of people had gathered in the city centre to honour the victims of Tuesday’s school shooting, which left nine people dead.
Mr. Eby, who was flanked by politicians of all stripes on Wednesday evening, choked up when speaking about one of the young victims who is fighting for her life in hospital.
“For the families, for the people of Tumbler Ridge, all of us here will make sure that the supports are here, knowing that they will never be adequate for what you’re going through,” he said. “The full extent of what has happened is not sunk in, and there are going to be some long days, weeks and months ahead.”
On Thursday morning, candle flames were no match for the cold, whipping wind, but electric candles still flickered among the stuffed animals, cards and photographs. A note attached to a bouquet of purple, pink and yellow blooms said: “We hold and remember this community in our hearts. Words can’t mend what is broken but together we will heal.”
Just steps away, at the town’s grocery store, flowers have been restocked but are moving fast. Community members have been coming in and out, many stopping to console one another as the town tries to comprehend the tragedy.
02/12/26 13:05
B.C. observes official day of mourning, to open legislature with Throne Speech honouring victims
People attend a candlelight vigil at the front steps of the legislature in Victoria on Wednesday.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
On Thursday, British Columbia is observing an official day of mourning.
The B.C. legislative assembly will open with the Speech from the Throne where Lieutenant-Governor Wendy Cocchia is expected to focus on Tuesday’s tragedy, honouring the victims.
Government House leader Mike Farnworth said the usual ceremony that accompanies the Throne Speech – brass bands, 15-gun cannon salutes and red carpets – have been cancelled. The budget will be tabled next week as planned.
The speech is expected to begin at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. local time).
– The Canadian Press
02/12/26 12:53
The history of the town
The community of Tumbler Ridge, two days after the rural community experienced one of Canada's deadliest shootings.PAIGE TAYLOR WHITE/AFP/Getty Images
Tumbler Ridge was once best known as a coal mining boom town that was built from scratch in the 1980s, then faced challenges from shifts in its economic fortunes.
Now it is grappling with the greatest tragedy in its 45-year history, which has put the tiny community under an international spotlight.
The community of a couple thousand people did not even exist before 1981, when mining corporations, the B.C. government and Japanese steel makers agreed to develop two mines.
In three years, the town was built, along with the two mines with a projected output of eight million tonnes a year.
Upheaval followed with the turn of the century, and the closure of the two mines in 2000 and 2003.
The town’s website says Tumbler Ridge pivoted to focus on attracting people to enjoy “affordable housing and superior lifestyle within a magnificent natural setting.”
Coal mining returned with the opening of new mines, and in 2021, the town marked its 40th anniversary, noting that its “heart is beating stronger than ever.”
That heart is now in need of healing.
– The Canadian Press
02/12/26 12:22
The Decibel podcast: On the ground in Tumbler Ridge
– Globe Staff
Globe reporters Matthew Scace and Alanna Smith, on the ground in Tumbler Ridge, speak to The Decibel about a community trying to make sense of what happened.
Listen to the podcast here:
02/12/26 12:06
After shooting, false claims about trans people spread online
– Samantha Edwards
Forensic specialists enter Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Wednesday.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
Since Tuesday’s shooting, prominent right-wing influencers, social-media accounts and Reddit communities have spread and amplified anti-trans rhetoric.
On X, Elon Musk reacted to and shared several posts to his 234 million followers that falsely claimed trans people are the most likely to commit mass shootings.
LibsofTikTok, an American far-right account, has posted several transphobic messages. Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh and Andy Ngo, editor of the Canadian conservative news website The Post Millennial, have also posted comments that villainize the shooter’s gender identity. In replies to these posts, users posted photos of trans people unrelated to the shooting.
Some in the trans community are concerned the online vitriol could lead to further stigmatization and a rise in anti-trans violence.
“The unfortunate reality is that there’s this targeted misinformation campaign that’s been unfolding for years,” said Tre’vell Anderson, the executive director of the U.S.-based Trans Journalists Association.
Statistics have repeatedly shown that the majority of mass shootings are perpetrated by cisgender men.
The Violence Prevention Project at Hamline University in Minnesota found that in mass shootings, which they define as four or more fatalities in public places with no connection to criminal activity, fewer than 1 per cent of shooters were transgender.
02/12/26 11:45
Opinion: Some thank yous for helping us through a day of horror
– Marsha Lederman
The Canadian flag at half-mast at the legislature in Victoria on Wednesday in honour of the victims of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
Amid the horrors, we can take a moment to be grateful for the help of so many people who generally labour without much recognition – the opposite, in fact.
Thank you.
To the teachers at Tumbler Ridge Secondary and Elementary schools, who kept their students as safe as they could, who let them know they were cared for and loved.
To the students who looked after their classmates, especially their juniors such as 12-year-old Quinn Campbell, who told The Globe and Mail, “They were mostly trying to cheer me up since I was the youngest one in the room.”
To the RCMP officers from the tiny detachment who arrived within two minutes, racing into what was obviously a dangerous and devastating scene. And who will relive what they experienced for the rest of their lives.
To the local health care centre staff who had to deal with a catastrophic situation that would have been difficult in any circumstance – but in this case, with an added level of horror: In a community this small, they would know some, if not all, of the victims. And yet they were able to put personal worries aside to do their jobs. Triage, treatment, care. For kids.
02/12/26 11:12
Shop teacher describes anxious wait for lockdown to end
– Tom Cardoso
Jarbas Noronha, a teacher at Tumbler Ridge secondary.Supplied
Around 2:20 p.m. on Tuesday, a student returning to Jarbas Noronha’s class said he’d heard what sounded like gunfire. Two minutes later, another student approached Mr. Noronha, a mechanical shop and applied science teacher at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
The principal had just come to the door, the student said, as the alarm sounded. The school was in lockdown.
Mr. Noronha sprang into fight-or-flight mode and took a quick head count: 15 students, all in Grades 11 or 12. Using the mechanical shop’s heavy metal benches, Mr. Noronha barricaded the classroom door. “The idea was just to buy us an extra three or four minutes if eventually somebody tried to break in,” he said in an interview.
“I gathered all the students together and got all their names, and then we built an escape plan,” he said.
02/12/26 11:00
Carney set to visit Tumbler Ridge
– Emily Haws
Prime Minister Mark Carney will be travelling to Tumbler Ridge, B.C. to attend a vigil on Friday, his spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Mr. Carney cancelled his trip to Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference in light of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, which left nine people dead, including the shooter.
“The Prime Minister will be visiting Tumbler Ridge shortly in support of the community, and the Prime Minister’s Office is working closely with the community and local authorities to finalize details based on their own immediate needs,” Laura Scaffidi, Mr. Carney’s spokesperson, said in a statement.
He has also invited leaders of all parties to accompany him, if they wish to do so.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, who is leading the federal response, arrived in the community last night.
02/12/26 11:00
Latest details released by RCMP
- Danielle Groen
Tumbler Ridge is waking up to a profoundly changed world after Tuesday’s deadly school shooting. Here is the latest:
- RCMP have identified the Tumbler Ridge shooter as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, a local resident of the small mining community in northeastern B.C.
- At a press conference yesterday, Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said police had visited the shooter’s home multiple times over the past few years for mental-health concerns.
- Police also revised the death toll from 10 to nine, including the shooter, correcting information provided on Tuesday.
- The victims include five students and an educator at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, as well as the shooter’s mother and younger stepbrother.
- Responding officers – who arrived at the school two minutes after reports of an active shooter – recovered a long gun and a modified handgun from the scene. McDonald said there was no indication at this point that anyone at the school had been specifically targeted.
- Several hundred people gathered for a vigil last night, leaving flowers around a spruce tree fewer than 100 steps from the school.
Read more from today’s Morning Update newsletter.
RCMP have identified the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooter.
Reuters
02/12/26 11:00
Twelve-year-old victim in Vancouver hospital after suffering gunshot wounds to head and neck
- Globe Staff
12-year-old Maya Gebala.Supplied
“It was just a normal day. What happened,” Cia Edmonds wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. She is the mother of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who is currently fighting for her life in a Vancouver hospital after suffering gunshot wounds to the head and neck.
On Wednesday, Ms. Edmonds posted an update on her daughter’s condition, saying she’d been warned “that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night.”
Ms. Edmonds posted a photo of Maya in her hospital bed, her eyes closed and her head heavily bandaged.“I can feel her in my heart. I can feel her saying it’s going to be OK,” Ms. Edmonds wrote. “Our baby needs a miracle.”
Ms. Edmonds’s cousin, Krysta Hunt, has started an online fundraiser for the 12-year-old. She wrote that Maya underwent surgery on Tuesday to help stop the bleeding, and had made it through the first night.
“She is such a fighter,” Ms. Hunt wrote on Wednesday. “We are still in a very risky state, and care and long-term recovery is unknown.”
As of Thursday morning, the fundraiser had received more than $250,000 in donations.
02/12/26 11:00
Victims’ stories begin to emerge
- Globe Staff
Police have not released the victims’ names, but some have emerged from families posting pleas for help and prayers on social media, and have subsequently been confirmed by The Globe and Mail.
Their stories paint a picture of a small, close-knit community torn apart by an act of shocking violence.
Jennifer Strang was the mother of the 18-year-old shooter. Nothing feels real since learning of Tuesday’s tragedy, said a cousin of Ms. Strang. The Globe is not naming her because she fears personal and professional repercussions for being associated with the shooter.
The cousin was raised in New Brunswick and Ms. Strang in Newfoundland – where members of the Strang family still reside. When Ms. Strang was a child and her family relocated to New Brunswick for work, the two cousins grew closer.
When they were older and Ms. Strang had moved to Tumbler Ridge, the two stayed in touch, bonding over selling cosmetics. She remembered Ms. Strang as someone who cared deeply about her kids, loved doing makeup and was crafty.
Abel Mwansa Jr. was one of the boys killed on Tuesday. Christopher Bwalya, a pastor with the Burning Bush Ministries in Kasama, Zambia, said he knew Abel from a young age. The Mwansa family relocated to Canada a few years ago to pursue work – but still spoke with Mr. Bwalya daily, the pastor said.
“I’ve been privileged, by God’s grace, to pastor this family for close to 11 years now, and practically saw Abel from being a toddler to what he became up to until the time that they relocated to work in Canada,” Mr. Bwalya said.
“Abel was very respectful. Abel was a loving character. Abel was somebody that was willing to render a hand,” Mr. Bwalya said. “Abel was a very promising young man.”
A family is mourning their 12-year old daughter, Kylie Smith, who was killed in the Tumbler Ridge school shooting on Tuesday (Feb. 10) Kylie's father Lance Younge said he recalled his final moment with her as he saw her off to school with her brother Ethan, unaware it was the last time he would see her alive.
Reuters
02/12/26 11:00
A community shattered
- Andrea Woo, Alanna Smith, Justine Hunter, Matthew Scace
Mourners gather on Wednesday at an impromptu memorial for the victims of a mass school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
On Wednesday night, several hundred people gathered in Tumbler Ridge for a vigil to mourn those who had died. People left flowers and held candles around a single spruce tree, located no more than 100 steps from the school where tragedy had struck.
Members of the community came to a microphone one after another, in no particular order, sharing whatever was on their mind – fears, hopes, thank-yous to first responders and teachers. In the crowd, people wiped away tears, some breaking into whimpers and cries.
“Canada is crying with you tonight,” said Bob Zimmer, the MP for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, which includes the town.
Larry Neufeld, the MLA for Peace River South, flew in to visit community members Wednesday.
“There’s not a word in the English language that is strong enough to describe the level of devastation,” he said.
Mr. Neufeld said every first responder involved would have known the victims.
“This is a very tight-knit community. And if your family was not directly affected by this tragedy, there’s a less than one degree separation between you and someone directly affected.”