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4d ago

Leaders Mourn in Tumbler Ridge as RCMP Call School Attack Indiscriminate

Police now describe the rampage as indiscriminate, with the origin of the main weapon still unconfirmed.

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.
Image
NDP interim Leader Don Davies, from left, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, MP Bob Zimmer, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney, and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet attend a memorial for the victims of a mass shooting, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Overview

  • Prime Minister Mark Carney, the governor general and federal party leaders attended a vigil in the town and laid flowers near the secondary school.
  • RCMP identified the suspect as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who killed her mother and stepbrother at home, then fatally shot five students and an education assistant at the school before dying of an apparent self-inflicted injury.
  • Investigators say there is no confirmed motive and that the shooter was "hunting" rather than targeting specific individuals.
  • Police have seized four firearms in total, including a long gun and a modified handgun recovered at the school, and are working to verify the source and legality of the primary weapon used there.
  • Forensic work and interviews are ongoing, autopsies are expected by the end of the weekend, and two critically injured children remain hospitalized.