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Carney, Opposition Leaders Gather in Tumbler Ridge for Vigil After B.C. School Shooting

Investigators say the motive remains unknown as they trace two recovered guns and examine prior police contacts with the suspect’s household.

Kylie Smith dreamed of going to art school, her family said.
Residents hug as they place flowers at a memorial for the victims of a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. Feb. 12, 2026.
Some of the Tumbler Ridge shooting victims. Top row from left: Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert. Bottom row from left: Ezekiel Schofield, Emmett Jacobs, Jennifer Jacobs.

Overview

  • Prime Minister Mark Carney is joining Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves‑François Blanchet, NDP interim leader Don Davies, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and Governor General Mary Simon at tonight’s vigil in the town of roughly 2,400.
  • RCMP identified the suspected shooter as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who died of an apparent self-inflicted injury after killing five students and a school staff member at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, as well as her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a residence.
  • Police released the names of the victims: students Abel Mwansa, 12, Zoey Benoit, 12, Kylie Smith, 12, Ticaria Lampert, 12, and Ezekiel Schofield, 13; education worker Shannda Aviugana‑Durand, 39; and the suspect’s mother Jennifer Jacobs, 39, and stepbrother Emmett Jacobs, 11.
  • A long gun and a modified handgun were recovered in the school, and police are working to determine their provenance and legality while stating they have no information suggesting specific targeting.
  • Mounties documented prior mental‑health related visits to the suspect’s home and previously seized firearms that were later returned to a lawful owner; more than two dozen people were injured in the attack, with two children reported in critical condition.