The deceased shooting suspect who killed six at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, plus his mother and step-brother, is 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who identified as female, Canadian police said on Wednesday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI. | License Photo
Canadian police said 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed six at a Canadian school after killing his mother and step-brother before taking his own life on Tuesday.
Rootselaar is a biological male who identified as female and began transitioning to female six years ago, Royal Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald told media.
The shooting began at his mother’s home, where he shot and killed his 39-year-old mother, Jannifer Strang, and 11-year-old step-brother, before Rootselaar went to nearby Tumbler Ridge Secondary School for reasons still unknown to police investigators.
While at the school, McDonald said Rootselaar killed a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old female students and two male students, ages 11 and 12.
He also wounded 25 others before taking his own life with what police said likely was a self-inflicted wound. Investigators recovered a long gun and a pistol that had been modified while at the school.
Among the wounded, two were airlifted to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, and about 100 students were evacuated after police arrived at the school.
Rootselaar previously attended Tumbler Ridge Secondary School but dropped out four years ago, McDonald said.
He said there was no indication that he dropped out due to bullying or harassment or otherwise encountered difficulty at the school because of his transgender status, but local police had responded to several calls to Rootselaar’s family home in recent years due to mental health issues, sometimes involving firearms.
McDonald told media the delay in identifying Rootselaar as the suspected killer partly was due to the need to notify his next of kin and partly to ensure they had accurate information.
Preliminary reports incorrectly said nine were killed, plus the shooter, during the event that was reported to the RCMP at 1:20 p.m. MST.
Police issued a public alert while responding to the school and lifted the alert at 5:45 p.m.
The names of the school shooting victims had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon.
Tumbler Ridge is a town of about 2,400 and is located in northeastern British Columbia near the Alberta border.
