Suspect in Canada shooting is identified as an 18-year-old with history of police visits to her home

Canadian authorities have identified 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar as the suspect in Tuesday’s deadly school shooting that claimed eight lives in the remote mountain community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald revealed Wednesday that Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at their family home before attacking the nearby Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. The suspect was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted wound.

“There is no information at this point that anyone was specifically targeted,” McDonald stated, noting that Van Rootselaar had a history of mental health contacts with police. Authorities have yet to determine a motive for the attack.

Police initially reported nine fatalities but later clarified that eight people died. The confusion stemmed from a wounded victim who was airlifted to a medical center and mistakenly thought to have died. More than 25 people were injured in the attack.

Among the victims were a 39-year-old teacher and five students between 12 and 13 years old. According to McDonald, one victim was discovered in a stairwell, while the others were found in the library. The suspect was not related to any of the school victims.

The sequence of events began when a young family member at the suspect’s home sought help from a neighbor, who alerted police. Upon arriving at the school, officers came under fire.

“Officers arrived at the school two minutes after the initial call. When they arrived, shots were fired in their direction,” McDonald explained. Authorities recovered a long gun and a modified handgun at the scene.

Tumbler Ridge, a community of 2,700 residents, is situated in the Canadian Rockies more than 1,000 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, near the Alberta border. The secondary school houses approximately 175 students in grades 7 through 12.

Local resident Shelley Quist recounted the tragedy’s impact, saying her neighbor lost a 12-year-old child in the shooting. “We heard his mom. She was in the street crying. She wanted her son’s body,” Quist said. Her own 17-year-old son, Darian, was locked down in the school for over two hours.

“The grade sevens and eights, I think, were upstairs in the library, and that’s where the shooter went,” she said, adding that her son had been in the library just 15 minutes before the attack.

Darian Quist described barricading classroom doors with desks during the lockdown. “We used the desk to block the doors,” he said, adding that fellow students texted him pictures of blood while he remained locked in a classroom.

This attack marks Canada’s deadliest mass shooting since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that killed nine more. In response to the tragedy, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that flags at government buildings will fly at half-staff for seven days.

“Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you,” an emotional Carney said as he arrived in Parliament. The Prime Minister canceled a planned trip to the Munich Security Conference in Europe.

School shootings are uncommon in Canada, which maintains strict gun-control laws. The Canadian government has previously responded to mass shootings with additional gun-control measures, including a recently expanded ban on weapons categorized as assault weapons.

A makeshift memorial of flowers and stuffed toys has begun to form at the edge of the school grounds as the community grapples with the tragedy. Residents have gathered at the local community center to support one another.

Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka expressed his devastation upon learning the death toll. “I broke down,” Krakowka said. “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”

The Rev. George Rowe of Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church, who once taught at the high school, reflected on the permanent impact of the tragedy. “To walk through the corridors of that school will never be the same again,” he said.

School district officials have announced that both the high school and elementary school will remain closed for the rest of the week as the community begins its healing process.

British Columbia Premier David Eby, speaking outside the townhall, acknowledged the community’s strength in the face of tragedy. “I can tell you this is an incredibly strong community. Everybody is worried about somebody else,” Eby said, adding that the full extent of the tragedy would take time to process.