Canada’s deadliest school shooting leaves 10 dead, over 25 injured
Quick Summary
- Canada's deadliest school shooting leaves 10 dead and over 25 injured.
- The shooter, described as a female wearing a dress, is believed to be a male teenager who identified as transgender. He died from a self-inflicted injury.
- Authorities closed local schools for the rest of the week.
A shooter opened fire at a high school in western Canada on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens before dying by suicide. The incident marks the deadliest school shooting in the country’s history.
Six bodies were found inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia and another two at a nearby residence, while a 10th person died while being transported to a nearby hospital, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Reuters reported.
The suspected shooter, described as a female in a dress with brown hair, but who is believed to be a teenage male who identified as transgender, was found dead from a self-inflicted injury in the school, and police believe there are no additional suspects.
At least two people were hospitalized with serious or life-threatening injuries, and as many as 25 others sustained wounds that were not considered life-threatening.
The shooting prompted a shelter-in-place order in Tumbler Ridge that lasted several hours. The order was lifted at 6:47 p.m. local time, and students were released to their families after headcounts were conducted at a nearby recreation center.
Authorities said both the town’s elementary and secondary schools will remain closed for the rest of the week. A local college has also temporarily suspended operations.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said officers were still notifying families of the victims and confirmed that trauma counselors would be sent to assist the community.
Students remained in lockdown inside classrooms and workshops for hours while police cleared the building. Teachers barricaded doors using metal benches and secured exits to protect students.
One teacher reported that police escorted his class to safety more than two hours after the lockdown began, and said students were visibly shaken during the evacuation.
As of early Wednesday, police had not released the identities of the victims or the shooter, and they had not confirmed how many minors were among the deceased. The federal government had not commented on the motive or the type of firearms used. Police had also not confirmed how the shooter gained access to the weapons.
The Canadian federal police said the person found dead in the school matched the active shooter description issued earlier in the day.
Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled a scheduled trip to the Munich Security Conference following the incident and posted on social media that he was “devastated” by the events.
Only a few hundred students attend Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, located in a remote community of 2,400 people in northeastern British Columbia.
The incident is now the third deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history and the deadliest to occur at a school. It comes after a 2020 attack in Nova Scotia that killed 23 people and a 1989 university shooting in Montreal that left 14 women dead.
In the 2020 case, a man impersonating a police officer went on a rampage with illegal firearms, prompting the federal government to introduce strict gun control measures.
The Trudeau administration banned 1,500 types of assault-style weapons after the Nova Scotia shooting and later implemented a freeze on handgun sales. The gun control push also introduced a national buyback program targeting military-style rifles.
The buyback has been challenged by hunters, farmers and rural communities, and several law enforcement agencies and postal workers have refused to participate due to logistical and safety concerns.
There are about 1.3 million registered firearms in Canada, according to police data, The New York Times reported, adding that the majority of guns linked to crimes in Canadian cities are traced back to the United States.
