Closing summary
We’re now pausing our live coverage of the Tumbler Ridge shootings that left nine dead yesterday.
Earlier today, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, told the remote British Columbia community that “all of Canada stands with you” in an address to parliament that followed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings.
In the days ahead, there will be “important questions” and “difficult conversations” to have, Carney said, but for now it’s time for grieving and remembrance.
Here’s a brief recap of what we learned from police today about the victims, the suspect, and how the country’s worst mass shooting in decades came to pass.
Police revised the death toll down to nine people, including the suspect, after a female victim with significant injuries survived (she remains in critical condition).
A 39-year-old found deceased at the suspect’s family residence was the mother of the suspect, and the 11-year-old victim was the suspect’s step-brother.
The deaths at the private residence occurred first before the suspect went to the high school.
Police were called to the home after they had been called to the school, by a female youth who is related to the suspect and victims.
Those killed at the school were a 39-year-old teacher, three 12-year-old female students and two male students aged 12 and 13. One victim was found in the stairwell, and the others were located in the school’s library.
Two firearms were recovered at the scene – a long gun and a modified handgun. Police are still working to determine their origins and role in the incident.
The suspect had a firearms license that had expired in 2024 and did not currently have any firearms registered to her.
The suspect had dropped out of Tumbler Ridge secondary school about four years ago and was not currently a student there.
There is no information at this point to suggest that any of the victims in the school were specifically targeted.
Police had attended the suspect’s family residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with mental health concerns of the suspect.
This included one police attendance to the home approximately two years ago where firearms were seized under the criminal code. The lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for them to be returned, and they were.
The suspect was born as a biological male who had started transitioning about six years ago and identified in public and on social media as female.
The suspect is believed to have acted alone.
Police don’t yet have an idea as to what the suspect’s motive was.
Updated
How common are shootings like these in Canada?
Mass shootings in Canada are rare, particularly compared with the neighbouring United States. Analysts have long pointed to Canada’s stricter gun laws, which make it difficult to own handguns or “assault-style weapons”, to explain the difference.
Yesterday’s attack is the second deadliest school shooting in Canadian history, behind a 1989 tragedy that saw a 25-year-old man claiming to be “anti-feminist” burst into a Montreal school. He killed 13 female students and a secretary before taking his own life.
The country’s deadliest shooting took place in 2020, when a man disguised as a police officer went on a shooting and arson rampage in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people.
The government later banned 1,500 models of assault weapons in response to the attack.
