Police on Wednesday identified the suspect in a Canadian school shooting as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rutselaar, who had previously made a mental health call to his home.
Law enforcement vehicles blocking the road are seen at the site of the middle school and high school buildings where a shooting occurred on February 11, 2026 in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. (AFP)Van Rutselaer was found dead after the attack, which killed eight other people in the small mountain community of Tumbler Ridge in a remote area of British Columbia.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald told a news conference that Van Rutselaar had a history of mental health contact with police, and that the suspect’s mother and half-brother were also found dead at a home near the school.
The motive behind the attack is still unclear.
More than 25 people were injured in the twin attacks on Tuesday, including two with life-threatening injuries who were airlifted for medical treatment.
Police also revised the initial death toll for the mass shooting to eight victims and the gunman, who reportedly died of his wounds. Initially, authorities reported that nine victims and the gunman were dead.
However, one of the casualties, “a woman with significant injuries,” is believed to have survived, Macdonald told a news conference.
He said the said victim and a second woman were airlifted to hospital “in serious condition”.
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Canada mourns deadliest shooting since 2020The attack was Canada’s deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set a fire that killed nine more.
“Parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers on Tumbler Ridge will wake up without their loved ones. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you,” an emotional Prime Minister Mark Carney said as he arrived in Parliament.
Carney said flags on government buildings would be flown at half-staff for seven days, adding: “We’ll get through it.”
School shootings are rare in Canada, which has strict gun-control laws. The government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun-control measures, including a recent sweeping ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.
