The community of Tumbler Ridge continues to mourn after a mass shooting took the lives of eight people and injured more than two dozen others on Tuesday.

Premier David Eby arrived at the northern B.C. town, where a vigil attended by community members and several officials was held on Wednesday night.

“I can tell you that this is an incredibly strong community,” Eby told reporters. “It’s also a community that’s clearly in shock. The full extent of what has happened has not sunk in.”

Fighting back emotions, Eby recalled that at the vigil people were asked to have a moment of silence and pray for the families who have lost loved ones, as well as for a girl who is in hospital fighting for her life after the shooting.

“That moment for me is representative of the profound tragedy,” he said.

“A beautiful child who went to school, is full of joy and love, who’s clinging to life in a hospital right now and the other children who have died. For the parents, for the families, for the people of Tumbler Ridge … we’ll pray for you in whatever way we pray and know that that’s happening across Canada and around the world.”

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‘It doesn’t feel real’: Tumbler Ridge in shock after 8 murdered in mass school shooting

On Tuesday afternoon, a shooter opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, killing a female teacher and five students — three girls aged 12 and two boys aged 12 and 13.

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Alongside the six victims from the school, two others were shot and killed at a separate location before the school shooting — the shooter’s 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old brother or stepbrother.

The shooter, identified by RCMP as 18-year-old female Jesse Van Rootselaar, died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The RCMP said they believe the shooter acted alone.

The shooting left two other people with serious or life-threatening injuries. They were airlifted to hospital. Approximately 25 others were assessed and triaged at the local medical centre for non‑life‑threatening injuries.

Gary Anandasangaree, Canada’s federal public safety minister, said he is heartbroken with the community of Tumble Ridge.

“As we mourn the senseless death of so many young people, what we can do here as a federal government is to support the local community, to support the mayor, to support the families, to support the first responders, to support the teachers and to ensure that we’re with them every step of the way,” Anandasangaree said. “As families are unable to put their kids to sleep tonight, there’s no words that I can say that will bring their children back.”

Mayor Darryl Krakowka thanked the premier and ministers for coming to Tumbler Ridge as “boots on the ground” to connect with the community and provide mental health supports and counsellors for families, students and staff who are grieving.

“It is so important when we see a tragedy like this, with young lives lost, families don’t have their children coming home last night. I think it was really, really important to see that, and I thank the government,” Krakowka said with emotion as Eby placed a hand on his back.

“Our community … we’re one big family,” Krakowka said.

— With files from Global News’ Amy Judd

2:58
What we know about the Tumbler Ridge shooting victims, suspect

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The father of a student killed in a school shooting in southern Alberta almost 27 years ago says forgiveness was at the heart of how he tackled the tragedy.

Retired reverend Dale Lang lost his 17-year-old son, Jason, after the teen was shot by a fellow student in a hallway at W.R. Myers High School in Taber, Alta., about 300 kilometres southeast of Calgary, in 1999.

The 14-year-old shooter, who also wounded another student, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder and sentenced as a youth to three years in jail and seven years of probation.

“In our case, God granted us the grace to be able to forgive the boy who killed our son, and that was hugely important for us,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

He shared his story again after a mass shooting Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., left nine people dead, including the 18-year-old shooter.

Police said the shooter killed her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a home in the town before gunning down a teacher and five students at the high school and taking her own life.

Lang said he doesn’t know enough of the details about what happened in B.C. to speak directly about it, other than to say it’s a tragedy.

1:48
Southern Alberta man stays connected with late son through passion of flying hot air balloons

“I’m very sad to know that Tumbler Ridge will be going through some difficult days ahead, to say the least, and particularly the families that have lost people,” said Lang.

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“That’s a terrible tragedy that no one should have to go through.”

In a small community, he said, everyone will be very affected. “It’s going to be part of the picture in the life of the community now for years and years to come.”

The process of grieving can be different for everybody, and it takes time, he added.

In his experience, forgiveness was the beginning of not getting “stuck in a place of anger and bitterness.”

He drew strength from his relationship with God, he said.

“(It) is hard to explain to people, because it was so painful and so tragic. And even in the midst of all our tears, we were still able to begin the process of healing.”

He said one of the things that was useful for him and his wife was returning to the high school where Jason was shot to welcome kids back into their classrooms.

1:39
A look back at the shooting in Taber Alberta

The Taber shooting was the first deadly high school shooting in Canada in about 20 years. It came eight days after a mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where two students killed 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives.

“It was a time when people, and young people, needed to feel like the world wasn’t falling apart on them,” Lang said. He added that students also needed to know they were cared for and could get through it.

“Over the years, we’ve had the kids that were in the school contact us or talk with us and let us know that it was a meaningful time for them in a difficult situation,” said Lang.

Lang wrote a book about the killing titled “Jason Has Been Shot!” along with his son Mark.

Lang said it’s something that wasn’t easy to put to paper, but he believes it was cathartic and brought comfort and healing to a lot of people.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.

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A shooting in northern B.C.’s Peace region is the deadliest attack connected to a Canadian school in nearly 40 years.

Nine people were killed in the mass shooting that also left the suspected shooter dead in Tumbler Ridge on Tuesday afternoon.

Seven victims were shot at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, while about two dozen other people were hurt at the grade 7 to 12 school. One of the victims died while being taken to hospital. The suspected shooter was also found there.

RCMP said two other people were found dead at a home in the community of about 2,400 people.

Here is a look at some other school shootings in Canada:

La Loche high school, Sask: On Jan. 22, 2016, Randan Dakota Fontaine shot two of his cousins dead, then killed a teacher and a teacher’s aide at the La Loche high school.

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Les Racines de vie Montessori, Gatineau, Que.: On April 5, 2013, two men were killed during a shooting at the school’s daycare. The shooter was identified as Robert Charron. Thirty-eight-year-old Neil Galliou was killed before Charron took his own life. Charron told staff to take the 53 children to safety before he opened fire.

W.C. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute, Toronto: On May, 23, 2007, 15-year-old Jordan Manners was found in a hallway with single gunshot wound to the chest. He later died in hospital. Two teens were charged with first-degree-murder and were later acquitted.

Dawson College, Laval, Que: On Sept. 13, 2006, 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa was killed and 20 others were hurt when gunman Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon. Gill was killed in a police gunfight.

W.R. Myers High: Taber, Alta.: On April 28, 1999, a 14-year-old Grade 9 students shots three students, killing 17-year-old Jason Lang before he was arrested.

Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal: On Dec. 6, 1989, 25-year-old Marc Lepine shot more than two dozen people, killing 14 women before killing himself.

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Moncton students, faculty hold vigil in memory of Ecole Polytechnique victims

— With files from Karen Bartko, Global News

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press