WARMINGTON: Tumbler Ridge, B.C. grapples with pure horror
· Toronto Sun
Eight innocent souls are dead, and a 12-year-old girl was clinging to life at the hands of a mass shooter with a troubled past of mental health and previous interactions with police that included guns being seized.
Authorities said the school shooter, who has been identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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The RCMP also confirmed that among the nine slain in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., were the shooter’s mother, Jennifer Strang, and 11-year-old brother Emmett, who were shot in the family home.
Seven of the victims were under 13 years old. A 39-year-old adult female educator was also slain.
Violence of this magnitude is difficult to fathom — especially here in Canada.
Nine dead and 27 wounded
It’s a cataclysmic event for a small, remote town of 2,400 in the far northeast corner of the province — and for the whole country.
There could be more carnage to come. McDonald said 27 others were struck — and several of them are in hospital.
One of those is a 12-year-old girl named Maya , whose mother Cia Edmonds wrote on Facebook that her daughter was “fighting for her life” at a Vancouver children’s hospital.
Edmonds posted to Facebook a picture of her with her daughter hooked up to life-saving equipment.
From Prime Minister Mark Carney to King Charles, to women’s hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser to every citizen, a country is praying along with her.
In the meantime, among the many aspects of this tragedy that will be scrutinized will be the Mounties’ acknowledging police had made “mental health” calls at Van Rootselaar’s home and two years ago a quantity of guns were “seized.” No charges were laid at the time and McDonald said the guns were later returned to the licenced owner.
McDonald said Van Rootselaar did not have a licence to own a gun and no guns were registered under that name.
Police outlined shooter’s background
Early reporting included some unconfirmed stories there was a second suspect.
The next phase of this situation is learning more about the slain victims and those recovering, while trying to determine a motive.
McDonald said Van Rootselaar had not been a student at the school for four years.
On Wednesday, RCMP said the shooter identified as a transwoman.
“I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female” and “identified as female, both socially and publicly,” RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said during a Wednesday news conference following the horror.
RCMP seem committed to get to the bottom of this
The RCMP appeared to be going the distance in Wednesday’s news conference to show that they are committed to getting to the bottom of this. To their credit, they didn’t hold back what they know and didn’t spin it, or offer excuses.
They aired out all what they know. It’s the best way forward.
There is no way better path to get to the ugly truth than to give the public what they deserve to know. What is known here is this troubled shooter was able to access and utilize firearms and become an active shooter at his small town’s school — and destroyed many families including the shooter’s own.
The public should be told everything about what caused this — including what measures can be implemented to try to prevent anything like it from happening again.
One of the young victims has been identified as Kylie May Smith, 12 . while another 12-year-old boy, Abel Mwansa , has also been identified as among the victims.
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