Suspect in Canada shooting identified as 18-year-old female
The suspect behind one of Canada's worst mass shootings has been identified as an 18-year-old woman who had a history of mental health contact with police.
Canadian police have identified the transgender teen who carried out a school massacre as an 18-year-old woman with mental health issues .
They confirmed they seized guns from the killer’s home about two years ago but no charges were laid. They did not give a motive for one of the worst mass shootings in the nation’s history.
The killer, named as Jesse Van Rootselaar, died by suicide after the shooting on Tuesday, local time, in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community in in British Columbia. Police revised the death toll down to nine from the initially reported 10. More than 25 people were wounded.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Police had attended that (family) residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect,” said Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
He said police seized guns at the property about two years ago.
Mr McDonald said Van Rootselaar, who was born male but began to identify as a female six years ago, had first killed her mother, 39, and 11-year-old step-brother at the family home. He said police would continue identifying her as a female.
Van Rootselaar, pictured left, went to the school — she dropped out four years ago — where she shot a 39-year-old woman teacher as well as three 12-year-old female students and two male students, one aged 12 and one aged 13.
“We do believe the suspect acted alone,” Mr McDonald said.
At the school, one victim was found in a stairwell and the rest, Mr McDonald believed, were found in the library.
The shooter was not related to any of the victims at the school, he said. “There is no information at this point that anyone was specifically targeted,” Mr McDonald said.
Police recovered a long gun and a modified handgun.
The shooter was described as “a quiet kid”.
“He was a chill kid, he was all right, but he definitely gave off that, you know, quiet one out kind of kid ... Like, he wasn’t, you know, destructive or obnoxious,” local Liam Iriving told the Western Standard.
“There’s not one person in this town right now that’s not affected by this.”
The mother of victim Maya Gebala, 12, released a photo, pictured right, of her daughter from hospital. “We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night,” Cia Edmonds said after her daughter was shot in the neck and head.
“Our baby needs a miracle. She was a lucky one, I suppose. Condolences to the other families during this tragedy. This doesn’t even feel real.”
Earlier in the day a visibly upset Prime Minister Mark Carney promised Canadians would get through what he called a “terrible” shooting.
Mr Carney, who has postponed a trip to Europe, said he had ordered flags on all government buildings be flown at half-mast for the next seven days. “We will get through this. We will learn from this,” he said, at one point looking close to tears.
“But right now, it’s a time to come together, as Canadians always do in these situations, these terrible situations, to support each other, to mourn together and to grow together.”
Prominent world leaders sent messages of condolence. King Charles, Canada’s head of state, said he was “profoundly shocked and saddened”.
The shooting ranks among the deadliest in Canadian history. Canada has stricter gun laws than the US, but Canadians can own firearms with a licence.
In April 2020, a 51-year-old man disguised in a police uniform and driving a fake police car shot and killed 22 people in a 13-hour rampage in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, before police killed him at a gas station.
In Canada’s worst school shooting, in December 1989, a gunman killed 14 female students and wounded 13 at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, before taking his own life.
“There’s not a word in the English language that’s strong enough to describe the level of devastation that this community has experienced,” said Larry Neufeld, a local provincial legislator.
“It’s going to take a significant amount of effort and a significant amount of courage to repair that terror,” he told CBC News.
Originally published on Reuters
