Killer behind Canadian school shooting pictured for first time since gunning down eight and injuring dozens
Transgender teen Jesse Van Rootselaar shot their mother and brother at home before going on a deadly rampage at a high school before turning the gun on themself.
The first images of Jesse Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old who killed eight people in one of Canada's worst-ever mass shootings, have emerged.
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Van Rootselaar, who was transgender and went by the name Jesse Strang, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday after killing five students and a teacher at the site.
The students were identified as three girls, all 12, and two boys, aged 12 and 13.
Van Rootselaar also slaughtered their mother, Jennifer, 39, and step-brother, Emmett, 11, before heading to the school to carry out the massacre.
The teen injured 25 others during the attack, police said.
Deputy Commissioner McDonald confirmed Van Rootselaar identified as a woman, but was born male.
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A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) spokesperson said they believe they worked alone.
Residents who knew the suspect have described them as "quiet".
"He was a chill kid, he was alright, but he definitely gave off that, you know, quiet one out kind of kid ... Like, he wasn't, you know, destructive or obnoxious," Liam Irving, who grew up the killer, told the Western Standard.
He added: "My mom was pretty good friends with the mother, Jennifer, and my little brother, who's also on the spectrum, was pretty close to Emmett, the younger boy.
"There's not one person in this town right now that's not affected by this."
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.
Students and residents have spoken of their horror as the gunfire rocked the small community.
Darian Quist, a grade 12 student, said he was in a mechanics class when an urgent lockdown alarm sounded in the hallways instructing them to close the doors.
He said he "didn’t think anything was going on' but then he received "disturbing" pictures showing the carnage at the school.
“It set in what was happening' and for more than two hours they 'got tables and barricaded the doors,” Quist said, until police arrived to escort them out of the building, where he met up with his mother.
Tumbler Ridge town councillor Chris Norbury, whose wife teaches at the secondary school, said it was 'terrifying' when found out the school had been attacked.
The attack sent shockwaves not only through the community but the whole of Canada.
The Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has described the shooting as "horrific" and suspended a planned trip to Germany in the wake of the tragedy.
"My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence. I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens.
“Our ability to come together in crisis is the best of our country — our empathy, our unity, and our compassion for each other," he wrote on X.
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.
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.
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."