Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia: 10 confirmed dead, 25 injured in mass shooting (2/10/2026)

[otto]

Does anyone else wonder if the mother's "nomadic lifestyle" was being she was constantly moving to get away from him, for some very good reasons? Was he the father of all the kids, or just Jesse?

He killed his 11 year old stepbrother.

 

[Lexiintoronto]

I also dont think the small mining town was a factor in the shooting. But what I meant to say is I think a small town can be a negative factor in the well being of a teenage who doesn’t fall within the mainstream of excelling in team sports and whatever else determines high school popularity.

What future opportunity would there be for a transgender person who dropped out of school at 14 to look optimistically toward a bright future in Tumbler Ridge or any small town for that matter? I’d bet not much of anything, It’s simply a matter of economy of scale. I bet no peer group, no gender-sexuality supportive alliances. It’s often that darkness in isolation which can turn dangerous.

I’m not condoning nor blaming anything for this tragedy, just trying to imagine what on earth went wrong. How can any person intently shoot to kill so many innocent children along with their mother and a stepbrother?
JMO

I’m not sure if this answers part of your question—

After the 2020 killings in Nova Scotia, a psychiatrist said a large part of what the killer did was an act of utter despair.

It took a while for me to accept that as true. They want to end their own life, but need to push themselves to the brink in order to do so. Acting out the thought of killing others pushes them to that point of no return.

The NS killer was killed by an officer, but that was what he wanted, imo.

 

[MistyWaters]

At age 18, he was an adult who should mapping out a future anywhere he wants. We know he has a father in BC, and extended family on the East Coast. He didn't have to stay in Tumbler Ridge.

I’m not sure if this article is paylocked but it’s not only utterly chilling but crystal clear Jesse was on a path to becoming very dangerous, indicated by his SM postings. He had an interest in firearms, past mass shooting plus his history of mental health interactions with police, most recently the spring of 2025.

He was active on a forum named WatchPeopleDie (WPD) that featured violence and acknowledged the content to be ‘addictive’.

“I’ve tried to stray away from watching this type of thing before cuz it really sucks me in and is a massive useless time dump,” he wrote.

“To say it ‘doesn’t effect me’ is likely naive.”

What we have learned about the warning signs of Tumbler Ridge mass shooter

 

[MistyWaters]

I’m not sure if this answers part of your question—

After the 2020 killings in Nova Scotia, a psychiatrist said a large part of what the killer did was an act of utter despair.

It took a while for me to accept that as true. They want to end their own life, but need to push themselves to the brink in order to do so. Acting out the thought of killing others pushes them to that point of no return.

The NS killer was killed by an officer, but that was what he wanted, imo.

Interesting, I can sort of understand how that concept can be applied to both cases in the way you’ve explained it. In this case it seems Jesse took her own life as soon as police responded to the school after killing and injuring dozens of people there, the point of no return was reached. Leaves me shudder to even think about but ugg, it does make sense.

 

[Fabled Automatic]

I also dont think the small mining town was a factor in the shooting. But what I meant to say is I think a small town can be a negative factor in the well being of a teenage who doesn’t fall within the mainstream of excelling in team sports and whatever else determines high school popularity.

What future opportunity would there be for a transgender person who dropped out of school at 14 to look optimistically toward a bright future in Tumbler Ridge or any small town for that matter? I’d bet not much of anything, It’s simply a matter of economy of scale. I bet no peer group, no gender-sexuality supportive alliances. It’s often that darkness in isolation which can turn dangerous.

I’m not condoning nor blaming anything for this tragedy, just trying to imagine what on earth went wrong. How can any person intently shoot to kill so many innocent children along with their mother and a stepbrother?
JMO

It shouldn't be a controversial or hushed opinion to point out that small rural mindsets can be extremely damaging to those who don't fit the social normative. Without saying too much, I have family members who were bullied relentlessly up until graduation in our rural town. It's been decades and they still don't go back there. It can be incredibly difficult for some to fit in, especially when they're rejected by small mindedness.

Take the example of the Columbine shooters. They were bullied quite a bit. Obviously killing people for such things is never justified, but it is unfortunately sometimes a consequence. People sometimes respond harshly when they're rejected by their peers and society for years on end.

 

[Muddy K]

At this point, my despair around shootings like this is twofold.

First, all of these increasingly common events are devastating, tragic and pointless. People die for no reason other than a desperate shooter swings a weapon in their direction. After the outcry, grief and inevitable departure of the media, nothing changes. We wait for the next shooting, knowing it will come.

Second, at this point, after so many school shootings, much of the pre-signaling is known, and the hindsight analysis is all too familiar. Broken home. Naive or inattentive parent/s. Previous history of mental health struggles, sometimes including intervention efforts. Interest in and access to guns. Posing with those guns. Abandoning schooling. Spending time online, hanging out in various internet abbatoirs offering IRL images of violence. Chatroom convos, veiled, or not, half cry for help, half bravado. FOMO. Alienation. Searching for "tribe" on Discord, WatchPeopleDie, ad nauseum.

The core signals are always there, IMO, with variations from shooter to shooter, but only variations.

(Like Adam Lanza, this shooter shot family first. In both cases, maybe it was to spare family members from the suffering and notoriety of the shooters' coming actions; I don't know. Maybe it was to avoid having to face them in the aftermath. Maybe it was just anger, resentment, hatred. Unhappiness.)

IMO, patterns of conduct around these shooters are now agonizingly obvious. Why can't we see them for what they are before people are shot? Why can't we intervene, even help them?

 

[airportwoman]

At age 18, he was an adult who should mapping out a future anywhere he wants. We know he has a father in BC, and extended family on the East Coast. He didn't have to stay in Tumbler Ridge.

True, but how could a gender nonbinary 18-year-old whose education ended at age 14 support themselves, at least via legal means?

Speculating again: Maybe those relatives didn't want him around, and also for some very good reasons.

 

[outback]

True, we do not know whether there was cooperation, or continued efforts to prevent a relationship between the shooter and his father. I have not looked for additional court documents.

If there are 5 children (per links upthread), and the shooter is the oldest, then all five are close in age. The step-brother who was killed was born in 2015, at the same time that mother took the children to the Atlantic provinces (same time as father's affidavit for access to his children)

Based on RCMP statements, there were mental health problems, and there was no history of school-based bullying. Based on that, my impression was that small town and limited population was not a factor in the shooting.

"Police said there was a history of officers attending the shooter’s home for mental health-related call-outs, some of which concerned guns.

There was no evidence to suggest he was bullied at school for being transgender, police said."

Revealed: 6ft trans school shooter wanted to be ‘petite’

Social media posts uncovered by The Telegraph reveal mental health issues of teenager who killed eight

www.telegraph.co.uk

I don't buy for a second that she wasn't bullied. Every transgender person I have known was bullied.

Jmo

 

[airportwoman]

He killed his 11 year old stepbrother.

That is true. Information about this story has been very convoluted.

 

[otto]

I’m not sure if this article is paylocked but it’s not only utterly chilling but crystal clear Jesse was on a path to becoming very dangerous, indicated by his SM postings. He had an interest in firearms, past mass shooting plus his history of mental health interactions with police, most recently the spring of 2025.

He was active on a forum named WatchPeopleDie (WPD) that featured violence and acknowledged the content to be ‘addictive’.

“I’ve tried to stray away from watching this type of thing before cuz it really sucks me in and is a massive useless time dump,” he wrote.

“To say it ‘doesn’t effect me’ is likely naive.”

What we have learned about the warning signs of Tumbler Ridge mass shooter

Sounds like there were many warning signs.

"But as their investigation begins, many wonder if the 18-year-old’s interest in firearms, past mass shootings and drugs — as evidenced on social media — along with a history of mental health interactions with police were warning signs for what was to come.
...

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism (COE) found “a fascination with violence and white supremacy” on two more accounts associated with Van Rootselaar. The COE identified an X account sharing content celebrating a 2022 Buffalo supermarket mass shooting and the 2019 attack on the Christchurch mosque in New Zealand.

The profile photo featured an image of the latter gunman over a Sonnenrad, a neo-Nazi symbol, and a transgender pride flag. Antisemitic content was also shared on the account. “I need to hate jews because the zionists want me to hate jews. This benefits them, somehow,” reads a post two days before the shooting.

The ADL said the user also pushed the Northwest Territorial Imperative, a 1970s white-separatist movement which encouraged Caucasians to relocate to the Northwestern states to establish an ethnostate in the region."

same link ...

What we have learned about the warning signs of Tumbler Ridge mass shooter

Jesse Van Rootselaar had an interest in firearms, past mass shootings and drugs, along with a history of mental health interactions with police

nationalpost.com

 

[otto]

I don't buy for a second that she wasn't bullied. Every transgender person I have known was bullied.

Jmo

It sounds like Jesse was the bully. Jesse picked up a gun and shot at least 34 people in a school where Jesse was not a student and had not been a student for 4 years. Over the past 4 years, Jesse pursued an interest in shooting people, illegal drugs, school shooters, and violent fringe groups. Jesse had mental health issues and was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward at some time during the past 2 years.

 

[SouthAussie]

RCMP have confirmed the identities of the victims.

Victims from Tumbler Ridge Secondary School

• Abel Mwansa: 12 years old
• Ezekiel Schofield: 13 years old
• Kylie Smith: 12 years old
• Zoey Benoit: 12 years old
• Ticaria Lampert: 12 years old
• Shannda Aviugana-Durand: 39 years old

Victims from residence on Fellers Avenue

• Emmett Jacobs: 11 years old
• Jennifer Jacobs: 39 years old

Who was the Tumbler Ridge shooter? What we know

The B.C. RCMP have identified the suspect in the Tumbler Ridge school shooting as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, a resident of the northeastern B.C. community.

www.ctvnews.ca