A video screenshot shows students being escorted out of school in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where seven people were killed in a mass shooting on Tuesday. Two more people were found dead at a residence nearby.Jordon Kosik/The Associated Press
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As a shooter prowled through her school in the small mining community in northeastern British Columbia, Quinn Campbell, 12, tried to stay quiet, hidden in a gymnasium equipment room along with about 16 other students.
Quinn said she was in the high school bathroom 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.
Seven people were killed at the high school in Tumbler Ridge before the shooter took their own life on Tuesday afternoon. Two people were found dead at a nearby residence. Twenty-five others were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. It is one of the worst school shootings in Canadian history.
The community of 2,400 was in lockdown for hours, with anxious parents separated from their children inside the school. On Wednesday, the provincial government was sending trauma counsellors to the community to aid students and parents.
The RCMP did not identify the shooter or the victims Tuesday and declined to speculate on a motive.
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.
“I was just thinking about all of my friends, if they were ok. Thinking about my family,” said Quinn, a student in Grade 7.
The students stayed inside for several hours, joined by a teacher.
Her father, Dennis Campbell, gave credit to teachers who “went and protected the kids in that equipment room.”
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.
RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd, North District Commander, said Tumbler Ridge RCMP received a report of an active shooter at the high school, which has a student population of 150, at about 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday.
An alert was broadcast to mobile phones in the area just after 2 p.m., warning residents and directing them to shelter in place, lock their doors and refrain from going outside. The suspect was described as a female in a dress with brown hair, according to the alert.
Parents received notice shortly after 3 p.m. that the community’s schools had been placed on lockdown.
The small B.C. community of Tumbler Ridge is struggling to come to terms with a mass shooting that left at least ten people dead, including the suspected shooter.
Reuters
The Tumbler Ridge Health Centre was put on Code Orange, signifying a mass casualty incident or large-scale emergency response, with restricted access protocols in place.
Schools began releasing students around 5 p.m., and the RCMP alert was officially lifted 45 minutes later.
Around 6 p.m., police confirmed that six people had been found dead inside the high school, as well as the suspected shooter. Another victim died en route to hospital.
Two additional victims were found dead at a secondary residential location “believed to be connected to the incident,” Supt. Floyd said, though he would not provide details on that connection.
Police continued to search homes and properties in the area “to determine whether anyone else may be injured or otherwise linked” to Tuesday’s events.
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.
This screengrab of a video provided by local journalist Trent Ernst shows the middle school and high school building where the shooting took place.TRENT ERNST/AFP/Getty Images
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.”
Ten people, including the suspect, are dead after a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.. B.C. Premier David Eby and Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger gave updates at a news briefing.
Reuters
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.”
Carney suspends trip to Europe following B.C. school shooting
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.
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.”
The Associated Press
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 Tumbler Ridge Parent Advisory Council said it was heartbroken by Tuesday’s events.
“There are no words that can ease the fear and pain that events like this cause in a school community,” the PAC said in a statement provided to The Globe by chair Nicole Noksana.
Amanda Oijen, a real estate agent in Tumbler Ridge, said people don’t expect this kind of violence to reach their tiny community.
It is the kind of town, she said, where people let their kids ride to school on bicycles, walk to the grocery store or stroll to the park, “things you wouldn’t normally do in a bigger place.”
“Parents are going to be more scared now, for sure,” she said. “It’s absolutely horrible.”
B.C. Premier David Eby commended the RCMP for their “heroic” response, noting that they were on the scene within two minutes of the first call.
“That fast response time meant what was already a devastating tragedy was prevented from being significantly worse,” he told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday night.
He said the RCMP have not finished notifying next of kin so he could say how many victims were students at the school.
“We can’t imagine what the community is going through, but I know it’s causing us all to hug our kids a little bit tighter tonight.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was devastated by the shootings and sent his prayers and condolences to those affected.
“I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,” he said in a statement.
“Our ability to come together in crisis is the best of our country – our empathy, our unity, and our compassion for each other.”