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

[branmuffin]

The actions of the young female who went to the neighbours probably saved several additional lives from being lost. Thankfully her life was spared and the neighbours were home. Sounds like a remarkable quick reponse by police. It’s always so heartbreaking why the desire for the shooter to destroy other innocent lives in situations such as this.
JMO

‘She never hurt a soul’: Grieving father speaks after daughter killed in B.C. school shooting. Live Tumbler Ridge updates here.

Nine people, including the 18-year-old suspect, are dead, and roughly 25 others were injured after a shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in northeastern B.C. Investigators believe the suspect acted alone and say the violence began at their residence before moving to the school. Follow for...

www.ctvnews.ca

“A family member to the shooter told the neighbours about the initial killings, prompting a call to police.

“We were called because a neighbour – there was a young female at that home that went to the neighbour’s – and that’s how we learned there were two deceased at that residence,” RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said.

“The incident at the home occurred first, and from there our suspect attended the school and commenced their criminal activity there, and that’s how we learned there were two deceased at that residence,” McDonald added….

…..Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, said local Mounties arrived at the scene within two minutes to encounter “active gunfire” on the property.

“As officers approached the school, rounds were fired in their direction,” McDonald said at a news conference Wednesday.

“Officers entered the school to locate the threat. Within minutes, an individual confirmed to be the shooter was located deceased with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

Community residents were told to stay inside and lock their doors for hours as authorities worked to confirm the threat had ended…. “

I think it's interesting and possibly related that the majority of victims at the school were in grade 7 which was around the same age that the perp was when they started identifying as female. If that was the case, and they started attending school wearing female clothing I could see that a lot of bullying may have occurred.

So if JS was going through a mental breakdown it's possible the current crop of 12 years stood as proxy for those kids who may or may not have bullied them several years ago. It's not excusing her behavior but it may be related to their mental breakdown. Killing her own brother who was also around the same age when JS started identifying as female. We have no idea what the family dynamic was because the members are all dead.

It's interesting that several ago LE removed weapons from the home, perhaps because of domestic violence that was happening in the home. It may have been the mother requested they were removed but it's just as likely after several visits by LE they may have seized the weapons themselves without a request from the mother. It's tragic that the weapons found their way back.

It's not been stated whether any family members are First Nations since there are special regulations that can allow children as young as under 12 to access firearms like long guns because of the aboriginal traditional hunting practices. I don't believe this applies here, though.

I would think that any trans person, regardless of the age they were when they identified as the opposite sex undergo all kinds of mental and emotional changes whether that's denial from family members, bullying by teachers and classmates, guilt feelings if they are bombarded by religious institutions regarding their 'choices' as ungodly and evil, that can play havoc with their emotional and mental wellbeing. Some of them commit suicide, which is the norm, and every now and then some focus their rage and anger toward family members and the general public.

In some ways, I think killers like JS are very similar to the kind of mass killers like the Columbine killers, kids who were mercilessly bullied for being different and eventually crack. I think bullying is one of the most overlooked symptoms of mental health that devolves into suicide and murder.

People in this day and age aren't just bullied by their classmates or workmates, they're bullied by people the world over; complete strangers piling on them to kill themselves, just like what happened to Amanda Todd. In different circumstances, Amanda who was overwhelmed by the universal hatred directed towards her from people a continent away, could have just as easily decided to take someone else with her, turning her from a victim to a perpetrator. IMO

 

[branmuffin]

In 2015, the shooter's father filed court documents to obtain access to his children. The mother had lived a "nomadic" lifestyle resulting the father having no knowledge of where the children were living. The mother was not allowed to remove the children (including the oldest child - the shooter) from BC, but did so anyway.

The court order required that the shooter be returned to BC, that the father is informed of his location, and that weekly phone calls be enforced to allow the father to have contact with his children - including the shooter.

In 2015, the shooter would have been 7 years old.

https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2015/2015bcsc2544/2015bcsc2544.html

I'd be interested to know how the father viewed his child's transition and whether the family's peripatetic nature had to do with avoiding his negativity. How a family handles a child's admonition that they're gay or transgender can have a major affect on their mental health.

 

[branmuffin]

Equally it could just have been out of spite, to prevent a perfectly ordinary or decent father having access to his children. Women are just as capable of being controlling as men are.

It's a fact that father's are less likely to accept a child's homosexuality or transgenderism than the mother. A father's traditional masculinity orientation can be a factor in acceptance of the child's sexual identity.

 

[SouthAussie]

Just days after the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting left eight people dead and dozens more injured, at least two online platforms say they have deleted accounts and content believed to be those of the shooter.

Roblox, which is a social gaming platform and creation system where millions of users play, create and socialize in virtual worlds called “experiences,” .... said it deleted an account.

Roblox also said the specific “experience” in question that may have been designed and created by the suspect was accessible publicly by downloading a separate app. Roblox adds that this particular “experience” had seven visits by other users on the platform.

The company would not confirm what the specific nature of the “experience” was, or what it may have involved or depicted.

(The other online platform that deleted an account was YouTube. More about it in the link)

YouTube, Roblox say they deleted accounts tied to Tumbler Ridge shooter | Globalnews.ca

Just days after the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, at least two online platforms say they have deleted accounts and content believed to be those of the shooter.

globalnews.ca

 

[SouthAussie]

Canada School Shooter’s Online Life Showed Interest in Violent Extremism

The suspect in the British Columbia shooting had long been posting about mental health problems, substance abuse and a fascination with weapons and online violence.

www.nytimes.com

 

[MistyWaters]

I think it's interesting and possibly related that the majority of victims at the school were in grade 7 which was around the same age that the perp was when they started identifying as female. If that was the case, and they started attending school wearing female clothing I could see that a lot of bullying may have occurred.

So if JS was going through a mental breakdown it's possible the current crop of 12 years stood as proxy for those kids who may or may not have bullied them several years ago. It's not excusing her behavior but it may be related to their mental breakdown. Killing her own brother who was also around the same age when JS started identifying as female. We have no idea what the family dynamic was because the members are all dead.

It's interesting that several ago LE removed weapons from the home, perhaps because of domestic violence that was happening in the home. It may have been the mother requested they were removed but it's just as likely after several visits by LE they may have seized the weapons themselves without a request from the mother. It's tragic that the weapons found their way back.

It's not been stated whether any family members are First Nations since there are special regulations that can allow children as young as under 12 to access firearms like long guns because of the aboriginal traditional hunting practices. I don't believe this applies here, though.

I would think that any trans person, regardless of the age they were when they identified as the opposite sex undergo all kinds of mental and emotional changes whether that's denial from family members, bullying by teachers and classmates, guilt feelings if they are bombarded by religious institutions regarding their 'choices' as ungodly and evil, that can play havoc with their emotional and mental wellbeing. Some of them commit suicide, which is the norm, and every now and then some focus their rage and anger toward family members and the general public.

In some ways, I think killers like JS are very similar to the kind of mass killers like the Columbine killers, kids who were mercilessly bullied for being different and eventually crack. I think bullying is one of the most overlooked symptoms of mental health that devolves into suicide and murder.

People in this day and age aren't just bullied by their classmates or workmates, they're bullied by people the world over; complete strangers piling on them to kill themselves, just like what happened to Amanda Todd. In different circumstances, Amanda who was overwhelmed by the universal hatred directed towards her from people a continent away, could have just as easily decided to take someone else with her, turning her from a victim to a perpetrator. IMO

I agree with you, society is becoming more and more hateful toward total strangers with each passing day. Jesse’s mother tried to defend her child but it probably didn’t do any good.

Mother killed by transgender Canadian school shooter son had called out trans hate

The mother who was murdered by her school shooting transgender son in Canada defended trans rights and urged her followers to stop “spewing bulls–t” online in a resurfaced Instagr…

nypost.com

The mother who was murdered by her school-shooter transgender son in Canada defended trans rights and urged her followers to stop “spewing bulls–t” online in a resurfaced Instagram post.

“Jennifer Strang, mom of 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar and a self-described “conservative leaning libertarian,” unleashed a profanity-fueled rant in a July 2024 Instagram post — less than two years before the teen launched the Tuesday rampage that left eight dead.

The mother of the transgender high school dropout who murdered her and his stepbrother before gunning down six at a British Columbia school defended trans rights in a resurfaced Instagram post…..

<beyond 10%, read more at link>

 

[MistyWaters]

Just days after the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting left eight people dead and dozens more injured, at least two online platforms say they have deleted accounts and content believed to be those of the shooter.

Roblox, which is a social gaming platform and creation system where millions of users play, create and socialize in virtual worlds called “experiences,” .... said it deleted an account.

Roblox also said the specific “experience” in question that may have been designed and created by the suspect was accessible publicly by downloading a separate app. Roblox adds that this particular “experience” had seven visits by other users on the platform.

The company would not confirm what the specific nature of the “experience” was, or what it may have involved or depicted.

(The other online platform that deleted an account was YouTube. More about it in the link)

YouTube, Roblox say they deleted accounts tied to Tumbler Ridge shooter | Globalnews.ca

Just days after the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, at least two online platforms say they have deleted accounts and content believed to be those of the shooter.

globalnews.ca

I read about this earlier before it was edited. IIRC the ‘virtual experience’ involved a shooting at a shopping mall.

 

[branmuffin]

Removing access to guns would have made a difference, though. It's a hard truth, but it is true. People struggling with mental health shouldn't have access to weapons like guns, especially children struggling with mental health. It's just too easy to do real harm to oneself or others with them. It's protecting someone who isn't able to make good choices or safe choices to keep guns away from them.

The shooter is still absolutely responsible for her own choices, but I can't help but think of the people that might still be living were those guns securely stored or not at the home at all.

MOO

Absolutely correct. Does anyone remember the 2017 mass killing by a US military guy from Alaska who was struggling with his mental health? He'd gone to his commanding officers telling them he was worried he'd do something to himself or others so they confiscated his weapons but returned them to him later. Fast forward and he still had his guns, took a flight to Fort Lauderdale airport, retrieved his weapons (he'd checked his luggage) went into the closest washroom, and came out shooting. He ended up killing people at the luggage carousel. I remember that so clearly because my daughter had just landed at that airport just an hour before to go on a cruise. Most of those killed were also going on cruises.

 

[branmuffin]

I wasn't suggesting taking all the guns away in the community, I was meaning in that one household.
Instead we see a photo of the shooter sitting on the sofa with a gun in hand. (Posted various times upthread). That's weird imo. What's somebody doing sitting in a house with a drink beside them and a gun in their hands??

All things being equal, I don't think somebody can cause as much damage with a knife as with a gun. Could be easier for people to overpower someone with a knife versus someone with a gun. Oh you mean, the rate of burglaries would go up with people looking to steal guns? That still creates a fair hurdle for someone to become a shooter. The more hurdles in the way, the better. IMO

How do we know the shooter in this case was desperate to get a gun? Or that she would have been if she'd never been exposed to them?

Don't forget that he was sitting beside someone else who was also holding a weapon.

 

[branmuffin]

Just days after the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting left eight people dead and dozens more injured, at least two online platforms say they have deleted accounts and content believed to be those of the shooter.

Roblox, which is a social gaming platform and creation system where millions of users play, create and socialize in virtual worlds called “experiences,” .... said it deleted an account.

Roblox also said the specific “experience” in question that may have been designed and created by the suspect was accessible publicly by downloading a separate app. Roblox adds that this particular “experience” had seven visits by other users on the platform.

The company would not confirm what the specific nature of the “experience” was, or what it may have involved or depicted.

(The other online platform that deleted an account was YouTube. More about it in the link)

YouTube, Roblox say they deleted accounts tied to Tumbler Ridge shooter | Globalnews.ca

Just days after the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, at least two online platforms say they have deleted accounts and content believed to be those of the shooter.

globalnews.ca

It really annoys me when these websites delete content because of blowback. If you're going to do it, at least contact LE and give them copies of anything relating to the perp.

 

[MistyWaters]

Questions remain around why guns were returned to home of Tumbler Ridge mass-shooter

In the wake of the tragic mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, BC – questions from those who study crime on why seized firearms were returned to the home of the shooter.

edmonton.citynews.ca

 

[MistyWaters]

LIVE Tumbler Ridge Vigil here:
Have a kleenex close by -

B.C. RCMP release image of Tumbler Ridge shooter

Mounties released an image of Tumbler Ridge shooting suspect Jesse Van Rootselaar on Friday, in an effort to quell false accusations against people unrelated to the tragedy.

www.cp24.com

 

[MistyWaters]

LIVE Tumbler Ridge Vigil here:
Have a kleenex close by -

B.C. RCMP release image of Tumbler Ridge shooter

Mounties released an image of Tumbler Ridge shooting suspect Jesse Van Rootselaar on Friday, in an effort to quell false accusations against people unrelated to the tragedy.

www.cp24.com

From the above link, now that the vigil is over. So the question remains unanswered, if the two guns the shooter used were not previously seized by police, how were they obtained?

“Mounties said they seized four guns, two from the home and two the school. McDonald said a shotgun Van Rootselaar is believed to have used in the killings at the family home was unregistered and it was not previously seized by police.

He said the same of the “main” firearm used in the school shooting, saying its origins are unknown and investigators are trying to determine how the suspect obtained it.

McDonald would not comment on whether any of the guns retrieved from the scenes were the same ones previously confiscated from the home and returned.”

 

[SouthAussie]

It really annoys me when these websites delete content because of blowback. If you're going to do it, at least contact LE and give them copies of anything relating to the perp.

I think they are cooperating with the police. Probably meaning that the police now (or will) have copies of everything. imo


“We have removed the user account connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect. We are committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation,” a Roblox spokesperson said in a written statement. (from my previous link)


It doesn't say what YouTube did other than ..... "our Trust and Safety teams identified and removed a YouTube channel associated with the alleged suspect in accordance with our Creator Responsibility Guidelines".
But maybe they have something in those creator responsibility guidelines that includes reporting (and providing) certain content to the police?

 

[MistyWaters]

The RCMP are also involved in damage control.

B.C. RCMP release image of Tumbler Ridge shooter

Mounties released an image of Tumbler Ridge shooting suspect Jesse Van Rootselaar on Friday, in an effort to quell false accusations against people unrelated to the tragedy.

www.cp24.com

…..“Speaking outside Tumbler Ridge Town Hall, commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, said some social media posts have included a photo of an innocent person.

He added an individual in Ontario with a similar name to the suspect “has been wrongly accused of being responsible.”

“Z___, this did not need to happen. We know you are not involved,” he said.

McDonald urged the public and media to only share verified images and information.

“There’s also many false flags and false trails on the internet, a lot of social media that is coming out that is factually inaccurate, a lot of allegations, a lot of photos pertaining to be the suspect, videos, etc., that are not,” McDonald told reporters Friday. “That’s why we urge extreme caution in the sharing of those images or the propagation of online hate or response, because it unfortunately can target innocent individuals.”..”