A 12-year-old girl is clinging onto her life after one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history in the small British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge.
“We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night,” her mother wrote in a post on Facebook. “Our baby needs a miracle.”
The girl was reportedly trying to lock the door when she was shot by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who police say killed six people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, after killing her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a nearby home.
Six people were killed at the high school: a 39-year-old female educator, three12-year-old female students, a 12-year-old male student and a 13-year-old male student.
Students and staff spent hours barricaded inside classrooms and other corners of the school after the principal directed everyone to lock their doors.
Investigators have not identified a motive for the shooting, but said police had been called to the residence several times in recent years due to “concerns” about the suspect’s “mental health.”
Canadian teen who killed eight, including six kids, had ‘mental health issues’ and guns had previously been confiscated from home: police
Canadian police identified an 18-year-old as the perpetrator who fatally shot six people at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and two others at a private residence Tuesday in what is one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings.
Officials said Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at their home before opening fire at the high school. Three 12-year-old female students, two male students ages 12 and 13, and one 39-year-old female educator were killed.
Police said the teenager was born biologically male but had been transitioning to female over the past six years. She was not a student at the school but it was not immediately clear if she had previously studied at Tumbler Ridge Secondary.
A motive for the shooting is unclear, but police said they had made multiple visits to the suspected shooter’s home over the last several years for concerns about mental health issues.
Ariana Baio and Owen Scott report everything we know about the suspected shooter:
Police say they visited suspected shooter’s home last spring over ‘self harm’ concerns – ICYMI
Canadian police said on Wednesday that they visited the home of the 18-year-old girl suspected of carrying out the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge last spring over “self harm” concerns.
Dwayne McDonald, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, said that authorities visited Jesse Van Rootselaar’s home “on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect.”
McDonald said that before the shooting, police last visited the home in the “spring of last year” over “concerns regarding mental health, self harm.”
‘Difficult conversations to have’: PM Mark Carney mourns ten killed in Tumbler Ridge shooting
In pictures: Tumbler Ridge holds emotional vigil
Police say suspected shooter ‘acted alone’ as they try to piece together what happened in Tumbler Ridge
Dwayne McDonald, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, has said suspected shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, “acted alone” as Canadian authorities try to piece together what happened in Tumbler Ridge Tuesday.
“We understand the community has questions and wants to understand the motive behind this tragic incident. We do believe the suspect acted alone and there are currently no other outstanding suspects,” McDonald said in a statement. “Our investigators remain on scene, actively gathering information to determine the full circumstances of what transpired.”
Watch: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney becomes emotional discussing Tumbler Ridge deadly shooting
Tumbler Ridge shooting victim went to church every Sunday: report
One of the eight victims of a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge went to church every Sunday, Canadian broadcaster CBC reported.
Linda Muise, a church leader at New Life Assembly, said a 12-year-old boy who was killed on Tuesday always came to Sunday service.
“Always a smile on his face, pleasant boy,” she told CBC. “He was a friend with my grandson and my grandson would come here every summer for a holiday and they would hang together.”
What to know about Canada’s gun laws
Canada saw one of the deadliest shootings in the country’s history in Tumbler Ridge on Tuesday, despite having strict gun laws.
The country has banned more than 2,500 makes and models of assault-style firearms since May 2020, the Associated Press reported. The massive ban happened after a gunman killed 13 people in Nova Scotia in April 2020.
A national freeze on the purchase of handguns took effect in October 2022.
In pictures: Canadian flags fly at half mast
What to know about Tumbler Ridge
Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia, Canada, was rocked by a mass shooting Tuesday.
The close-knit community has a population of just 2,700, according to the Associated Press.
It’s located in the Canadian Rockies, more than 600 miles northeast of Vancouver, the AP reported.
Source: independent.co.uk