Everything we find out about Canada faculty shooter who killed eight in horrific rampage
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, murdered his mum and brother before gunning down six people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia. He began identifying as female aged 12 and has been pictured grinning while holding a rifle
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18(Image: Facebook)
The identity of the gunman who murdered their mother and step brother and went on to commit the second deadliest school shooting in Canadian history has been revealed.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, opened fire in the library at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada on Tuesday. The shooter went on to take their own life after gunning down six people and injuring dozens. Sharing his condolences with the victims of the shooting, Prime Minister Mark Carney said: “Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. He added: “The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you.”
Rootselaar is known to have had a recorded history of mental health problems. The horrific incident was one of the worst mass casualty events in Canada’s recent history.
What happened?
The shooting started at Rootselaar’s family home where the shooter took the lives of their mother and step-brother on Tuesday afternoon. Rootselaar then moved to the Tumbler Ridge secondary school armed with a long gun and a modified handgun.
A female teacher was killed, alongside three girls and two boys aged between 13 and 17, during the evil massacre.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald said authorities believe the shooter acted alone. McDonald stated: “We do believe the suspect acted alone… it would be too early to speculate on motive.”
An emergency alert was issued to Tumbler Ridge residents around 1.20pm local time, warning of an active shooter in the area.
An urgent lockdown alarm sounded in the hallways of the school shortly after 1.30pm, instructing students and staff to barricade the doors. Darian Quist, a senior student at the school revealed he was in mechanics class when the lockdown began and spoke of the horrific incident.
“For a while, I didn’t think anything was going on,” he said.
“I thought it was just like maybe a ‘Secure and hold’ but once everything starts circulating, we kind of realized something was wrong.” Quist revealed he and his classmates hid in fear for their lives for two hours. Finally after locking down their classrooms they were broken out by police who eventually escorted them out. Quist described the atmosphere in the classroom as “very nervous”.
The student said: “Once people sent me some photos, it definitely set in what was actually happening.”
“They [the photos] were disturbing, just showing blood and things like that. That’s when it all really set in.” Quist revealed his teacher quickly organized students to make them move tables against doors and create an escape plan. He said the class went on to wait anxiously until “police came through the door, yelling, ‘Hands up, hands up’.”
The school and its elementary school will remain closed for the rest of the week.
Who was the shooter?
Rootselaar, who stopped attending the school four years ago at the age of 14, previously had to be “apprehended for assessment” under the country’s mental health act.
McDonald revealed police had attended the family residence multiple times over the past few years – dealing with the suspect’s mental health issues. He said: “I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to a female.”
Eerie photos of the shooter have surfaced showing them happily holding a rifle at a birthday party. Local man Liam Irving said Van Rootselaar’s mother and younger brother were well known in the community and said the two were “good friends” of his family.
“There’s not one person in this town right now that’s not affected by this,” he said.
The victims
School children who lost their lives include Abel Mwansa, 12, Eziekiel Schofield, 13, and 12-year-old Kylie Smith.
Maya Gebala, 12, was shot in the neck and head during the shooting. In a heart-breaking statement, her mother Cia Edmonds said: “We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night. I can feel her in my heart. I can feel her saying its going to be OK… she’s here… for how long we don’t know.
“Our baby needs a miracle,” she added.
British Columbia’s premier, David Eby, has dubbed the mass shooting as an “unimaginable tragedy”. Eby – a father of three – said news of the horror “makes you want to hug your kids a little tighter.”
He added: “Wrap these families with love. Not just tonight but tomorrow and into the future. This is something that will reverberate for years to come.”
