Shootings at school and home in British Columbia, Canada, leave 10 dead
By JIM MORRIS and ROB GILLIES, Associated Press
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A shooting at a British Columbia school left seven people dead, while two others were found dead in a nearby home, Canadian authorities said Tuesday. A woman police believe was the shooter was also killed.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said more than 25 people were injured, including two airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries, after the shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
School shootings are rare in Canada.
The town of Tumbler Ridge in the Canadian Rockies is more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) north of Vancouver, near the Alberta border. The provincial government website says Tumbler Ridge Secondary School has 175 students in grades 7 to 12.
British Columbia Premier David Eby told reporters that police arrived at the school within two minutes.
Video showed students walking out of the school with their hands raised as police vehicles surrounded the building and a helicopter flew overhead.
The police noted six deaths, according to a press release. One suspect appears to have died from a “self-inflicted wound.” An eighth person died while being transported to a hospital, and two others were found dead in a home that authorities believe was linked to the attack.
RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd told reporters that investigators had identified a female suspect, but would not release her name, and that the shooter’s motive remained unclear. He added that police were still investigating the connection between the victims and the shooter.
Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka said the entire community is grieving.
“I broke down,” he said, saying it was “devastating” to learn how many people had died in this community of 2,700, which he called a “big family.”
“I’ve lived here for 18 years,” Krakow said. “I probably know every single one of the victims.”
The Rev. George Rowe of Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church visited the recreation center where the victims’ families were waiting for more information.
“It wasn’t a pretty sight. Families are still waiting to find out if it was their child who died and, because of protocol and procedure, the investigation team is very cautious in releasing names,” Rowe said. “The biggest thing tonight is that I had to step away and the families are still waiting to find out. It’s so hard. Other pastors and counselors are there so they’re not alone.”
Rowe previously taught high school and all three of his children graduated from there.
“Walking the halls of this school will never be the same,” he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post that he was devastated by the Tumbler Ridge shooting.
“I join Canadians in mourning those whose lives were irreversibly changed today and in expressing gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,” he wrote.
Carney’s office said he was suspending a planned trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Munich, Germany. He was due to announce a long-awaited defense industrial strategy in Halifax on Wednesday before heading to Europe for the Munich Security Conference.
Eby, the province’s premier, told reporters he spoke to Carney after what he called an “unimaginable tragedy.”
“I know this makes us all hold our kids a little tighter tonight,” he said. “I ask the people of British Columbia to take care of the people of Tumbler Ridge tonight.”
The Canadian government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun control measures, including recently expanding a ban on all weapons it considers assault weapons.
Tuesday’s shootings were Canada’s deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and started fires that left nine others dead.
Gillies reported from Toronto.
