Canada School Killer, 18-Year-Old Trans Woman, First Shot Mother, Step-Brother At Home

An 18-year-old trans woman with mental health issues has been identified as the killer behind the deadly shooting in British Columbia, Canada, that resulted in nine deaths. Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and stepbrother before attacking her former school, police said, without offering a motive for one of the worst mass slaughters in Canadian history.

The killer died by suicide after the shooting on Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community of 2,400 people in the Pacific province of British Columbia. 

About The Shooter

Rootselaar was a transgender woman who was born biologically male and dropped out of the targeted high school four years ago, news agency AFP reported, quoting Police Commander Dwayne McDonald. 

The officer said the shooter had previously held a firearms licence, which had lapsed, and the weapons had previously been confiscated from her residence -- but were subsequently returned.

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Rootselaar also has a history of mental health illness, with police visiting her home more than once to check on her. 

On more than one occasion, she was apprehended under the provincial Mental Health Act for an assessment, McDonald said. She once attended the school where the attack took place but dropped out four years ago.

"Police had attended that (family) residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect," McDonald said.

The Shooting

Nine people, including the shooter, were killed in one of the worst mass shootings in Canada, while 24 others were wounded.

McDonald said that Rootselaar first killed her mother, 39, and 11-year-old stepbrother at the family home before attacking the nearby school that she attended four years ago. 

Officers who entered the town's high school found six people dead -- a 39-year-old woman teacher and five students -- three 12-year-old girls and two boys, aged 13 and 12. One victim was found in a stairwell, and the rest, McDonald believed, were found in the library. The suspect was not related to any of the victims at the school, he said.

"There is no information at this point that anyone was specifically targeted," McDonald said.

The shooter, armed with a long-barrelled gun and a pistol, was found dead from "a self-inflicted gunshot wound" after the massacre, said McDonald. Police recovered a long gun and a modified handgun from the crime scene.

The killings in the family home were discovered after another family member alerted neighbours, he said.

McDonald said officers arrived at the school two minutes after the initial call. When they arrived, shots were also fired in their direction. Police, however, added that the motive of the attack remained unclear.

Deadliest Shooting

Reuters

The attack was Canada's deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.

"Parents, grandparents, sisters, and brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you," an emotional Prime Minister Mark Carney said as he arrived in Parliament.

Carney said flags at government buildings will be flown at half-staff for seven days and added, "We will get through this."

School shootings are rare in Canada, which has strict gun-control laws. The government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun-control measures, including a recently broadened ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.

A video showed students walking out with their hands raised as police vehicles surrounded the building and a helicopter circled overhead.

Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka said it was "devastating" to learn how many had died in the community, which he called a "big family".

"I broke down," Krakowka said. "I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims."

The school district said the high school and elementary school will be closed for the rest of the week.

Carney's office said he called off a planned trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Munich, Germany. He had been set to announce a long-awaited defence industrial strategy on Wednesday in Halifax before heading to Europe for the Munich Security Conference.

British Columbia Premier David Eby on Tuesday said he had spoken to the prime minister about the "unimaginable tragedy".

"I know it's causing us all to hug our kids a little bit tighter tonight," he said. "I'm asking the people of British Columbia to look after the people of Tumbler Ridge tonight."