A remote Canadian mining town became the site of one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings when an 18-year-old former student murdered eight people, including family members and children as young as 12, before turning the gun on herself.
Story Snapshot
- Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and step-brother at home before attacking Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, her former school, resulting in nine total deaths including the shooter
- Police had visited the family home for mental health concerns in spring 2025, and Van Rootselaar held an expired minor’s firearm license yet still accessed weapons
- The shooter’s social media showed fixation on a previous transgender school shooter from Nashville, raising questions about online radicalization and copycat behavior
- Experts reject claims of elevated violence among transgender individuals, pointing instead to failures in mental health intervention, firearm access controls, and online echo chambers glorifying mass shooters
Violence Erupts in a Small Mining Community
Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone. This remote mining community of a few thousand residents had never experienced violence on this scale. On February 10, 2026, that innocence shattered when Van Rootselaar first shot her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old step-brother at their residence before driving 1.5 kilometers to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. By the time the rampage ended, six more people lay dead at the school, 27 others were injured, and the shooter had taken her own life in the library.
Red Flags Ignored Before the Massacre
The warning signs were there, stacking up like cordwood. Van Rootselaar had dropped out of Tumbler Ridge Secondary four years earlier, though RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald stated there was no documented bullying. Police had visited the family home in spring 2025 regarding mental health issues. Most troubling, Van Rootselaar possessed an expired minor’s firearm license from 2024. Such licenses only permit borrowing non-restricted firearms under supervision, never ownership. Yet somehow, this troubled teen accessed both a modified handgun and a long gun. How those weapons ended up in her hands remains under active investigation by the RCMP.
The Attack Unfolds During School Hours
The nightmare began at approximately 2:20 p.m. Mountain Standard Time when an active shooter was reported at the school. Students and teachers scrambled into lockdown, barricading doors as gunfire echoed through hallways. Van Rootselaar killed one victim in a stairwell before entering the library, where she murdered five students and one teacher. The victims included three 12-year-old girls, two boys aged 12 and 13, and a 39-year-old female teacher. These weren’t abstract statistics; they were children barely into adolescence, cut down in a place meant to nurture their futures.
Digital Footprints Point to Dangerous Obsessions
Van Rootselaar’s social media accounts on YouTube and TikTok painted a disturbing picture. She posted anime content and images of rifles, but more alarming were her reposts featuring Aiden Hale, the transgender shooter who killed six people at a Nashville Christian school in 2023. This fixation raises serious questions about online radicalization and the “true crime community” that, according to criminology experts, often heroizes mass shooters. No manifesto was found at the scene, leaving investigators to piece together motive from digital breadcrumbs and witness accounts. The timing during the 2026 Winter Olympics added surreal contrast, with condolences flowing from King Charles III while athletes competed.
Identity Politics Versus Real Solutions
Van Rootselaar began transitioning six years prior, around age 12, a fact RCMP confirmed publicly. Predictably, certain online factions and politicians seized on the shooter’s transgender identity, attempting to construct narratives about elevated violence among transgender individuals. James Densley, a criminology professor with the Violence Prevention Project, systematically dismantled these claims. Transgender people comprise roughly one percent of the population and remain underrepresented in mass shooter databases. Densley emphasized what should be obvious: the focus belongs on mental health failures, firearm access by troubled minors, and online radicalization, not identity. When police already knew about mental health issues and an expired gun license, how did this teenager obtain lethal weapons?
Accountability Gaps Demand Attention
Canada’s Prime Minister called this one of the nation’s worst mass shootings, and he’s right. But words ring hollow without action addressing the systemic failures. BC Minister of Public Safety Nina Krieger deployed resources after the fact, yet prevention remains the conversation no one wants to have. Superintendent Ken Floyd is investigating connections between the shooter and victims, but the real investigation should scrutinize how a minor with documented mental health problems and an expired firearms license accessed deadly weapons. Common sense dictates that when authorities visit a home for mental health crises, that family shouldn’t have unsecured firearms. The fact that 27 people survived their injuries is cold comfort to families burying children and loved ones.
Sources:
2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting – Wikipedia
