18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar identified as shooter who also killed mother and sibling
The victims of a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., included a 39‑year‑old female educator who was killed while at work inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where three 12‑year‑old girls and two boys aged 12 and 13 were also fatally shot on Tuesday.
They were murdered by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, a transgender teen who was born a male and began transitioning about six years ago, according to the RCMP. Rootselaar took her own life.
Before heading to the school, Van Rootselaar killed her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at the family home.
BC RCMP Commanding Officer, Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald confirmed that a total of nine people, including the shooter, are dead, correcting earlier information that one of the wounded had also died.
“Initially, it was believed that one of the victims … had succumbed to her injuries,” McDonald said. “Police have since confirmed that is not the case. She is alive.”
That female shooting victim was one of two survivors with gunshot wounds airlifted to hospital. Both are now in critical but stable condition. 25 other people at the school were examined and triaged for possible injuries, many of them ultimately found not to have physical wounds.
The mass shooting has shocked the resource‑based community of roughly 2,400 people in northeastern B.C., where the secondary school is also a major workplace and community hub.
Sequence of events and police response
Police received a report of an active shooter at approximately 1:20 p.m. Pacific time on Feb. 10, and local RCMP officers arrived at the school within two minutes.
“As officers approached the school, rounds were fired in their direction,” McDonald said. Officers entered the building within minutes and found the shooter dead from an apparent self‑inflicted gunshot wound.
One of the deceased was located in a stairwell and the others in the library.
After the building was deemed safe, more than 100 students and staff were evacuated to a local community centre, where many were assessed by medical personnel.
Shooter had prior police and mental‑health history
McDonald said police had previous involvement with the family home “on multiple occasions over the past several years” related to concerns about the shooter’s mental health, including incidents where she was apprehended under the Mental Health Act for assessment.
McDonald said police have no information at this stage to suggest the shooter was bullied at the school over her transition, noting that she dropped out about four years ago and was not enrolled there at the time of the attack.
About two years ago, officers seized firearms from the family residence under the Criminal Code, but those weapons were later returned to their lawful owner and no criminal charges were laid.
McDonald said two firearms – a long gun and a modified handgun – were recovered at the school. Investigators are still working to confirm how the guns were obtained and whether they were lawfully possessed.
He added the shooter held a firearms licence that expired in 2024, and no firearms were registered to her.
No known link to school victims, motive still unclear
RCMP say there is no known family relationship between the shooter and the victims at the school, only to the two killed at the residence.
McDonald said investigators have not yet identified a motive and are still in “the infancy” of the investigation, which is being led by the BC RCMP Major Crime Unit.
National leaders respond, supports mobilized
In a statement to the House of Commons, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the killings had “left our nation in shock and all of us in mourning.”
“These children and their teachers bore witness to unheard‑of cruelty,” Carney said. “To the students, the teachers, the parents, every resident of Tumbler Ridge, all of Canada stands with you.”
Carney praised first responders, including RCMP officers who entered the school under fire, as well as paramedics, health‑care workers and school staff “who acted with extraordinary courage to protect the children in their care.”
McDonald said additional RCMP resources have been deployed to Tumbler Ridge to support both the major crime investigation and day‑to‑day policing, and that community members needing support should go to the Tumbler Ridge Community Centre.
“This is a deeply distressing incident where nine individuals have senselessly lost their lives,” he said. “Thoughts are with the families, the loved ones, the first responders … and all those impacted by this tragic incident.”
