Canadian school shooter who murdered eight before taking their own life named as Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18
The shooter who killed eight people in British Columbia has been named as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar by Canadian police.
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Van Rootselaar, who also went by Jesse Strang, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday, having killed five students and a 39-year-old teacher.
The students were identified as three girls, all 12, and two boys, aged 12 and 13.
Van Rootselaar also killed their 39-year-old mother, Jennifer, and 11-year-old step-sibling, Emmett.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) spokesperson said they believe Jesse worked alone.
Revising an earlier statement, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald confirmed the death toll stood at eight, after one victim was erroneously declared dead on Tuesday.
Deputy Commissioner McDonald confirmed Van Rootselarr identified as a woman, but was born male.
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Deputy Commissioner McDonald confirmed during a press conference that law enforcement had been in contact with Jesse within the past year.
When asked if the suspect had a gun licence, McDonald told reporters: "I believe she had a license which had expired in 2024; she did not have any firearms registered to her".
The confirmed victims from inside the school included five students and one female educator, according to the force.
“The deceased victims from the school include an adult female educator, three female students and two male students between the ages of 13 and 17,” McDonald confirms.
Authorities said more than 25 were injured, including two who are in a life-threatening condition.
Tuesday's attack is one of the deadliest mass casualty events in Canada's recent history, where mass shootings are very rare.
It is the worst school shooting since December 1989, when a gunman killed 14 female students at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
The town of Tumbler Ridge, which has a population of about 2,400 people, is more than 600 miles north of Vancouver, near the border with Alberta.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said "the nation mourns" with the families of nine people killed following one of the country's worst-ever mass shootings.
"Parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love," Carney said on Wednesday.
"The nation mourns with you. Canada stands by you."
Thanking the emergency services for their tireless work, Mr Carney also thanked world leaders for their support - including King Charles III, Canada's head of state.
Flags across all government buildings in Canada will be flown at half mast for the next week in light of the shooting, with Mr Carney telling the nation: "We will get through this".
"But right now it is a time to come together, like Canadians do in these terrible situations. To support each other, to mourn together and to grow together."
Authorities said more than 25 are injured, including two in a life-threatening condition, after the shooting at the school.