British Columbia shootings: Suspect dies in Tumbler Ridge school shooting
Police say one gunman has died in a shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in rural British Columbia, Canada.
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At least nine people were killed and dozens injured in two separate shootings at a school and a residence in northeastern British Columbia on Tuesday, February 10th. Canadian authorities called the incident one of the worst mass shootings in the country’s history.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police received reports of a shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School around 1:20 p.m. local time. Officers responded to the scene and found dozens of victims and the suspected shooter, who was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Officials said six victims died inside the high school and a seventh died on the way to the hospital. Two others were airlifted to hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said at a news conference that 25 more people were injured, with injuries ranging from “serious” to “minor,” adding that police would not release the ages of the victims until all family members had been notified of their deaths.
Police said two people were found dead in a home as part of the investigation, which appears to be related to the school shooting.
“On nights like tonight, I don’t know what to say,” said a somber Eby. “For myself, and I think for many British Columbians and Canadians as well, it makes us think about the safety of our children when they go to school…It’s events like this that make us pause about that safety.”
During the attack, police identified the suspect as a “female with brown hair wearing a dress.” At a news conference later that day, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Ken Floyd said the gunman was the suspect named in the alert.
Authorities declined to release further details about the suspect.
First responders praised for preventing further loss of life
British Columbia Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger called the Tumbler Ridge tragedy “one of the worst mass shootings in the history of our province and country.”
“This is a devastating day for our close-knit community and the sense of loss being felt is deep,” she said. “As a mother, I hold in my heart the families who have lost loved ones and the many who have been injured. For their families, the nightmare is far from over.”
Eby and Krieger said Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived within two minutes and credited the quick actions of first responders for preventing further loss of life.
“What was already a pretty devastating tragedy could have been prevented from getting much worse,” Eby said. “And as a police officer at the scene of a shooting like this, putting yourself at risk to protect the lives of others, it’s heroic work. We’re very grateful that our police responded so quickly and fearlessly, and that they conducted training to protect as many people as possible at the school.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that he was “devastated by today’s horrific shootings.”
“Today, I join Canadians in mourning those whose lives have been irrevocably changed, and I thank the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives for their fellow citizens.” “Our ability to come together in a crisis is the best of this country: our empathy, our unity, and our compassion for each other.”
Tumbler Ridge is a remote municipality of approximately 2,400 people located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northern British Columbia, approximately 1,120 miles northeast of Vancouver.
The school district announced that “due to a tragic event,” Tumbler Ridge Middle School and Tumbler Ridge Elementary School will be closed for the remainder of this week.
Worst mass shooting in Canadian history
The Tumbler Ridge attack was one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history, and such tragedies are relatively rare in Canada.
The deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history occurred in 2020, when 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman went on a 13-hour rampage across Nova Scotia, killing 22 people before being shot dead by police.
The worst school shooting in Canadian history occurred in 1989, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine carried out an anti-feminist attack, shooting and killing 14 women and injuring 10 more women and four men before committing suicide.
Other gun tragedies in the country include the 2017 attack on a mosque by 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, which killed six people and injured five others. He later pleaded guilty to the attack and is serving a life sentence.
In 2014, 53-year-old Hu Lam murdered eight friends and family members, including his wife, their eight-year-old son, and three-year-old niece, before committing suicide in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1996, 30-year-old Mark Vijay Chahal shot and killed his ex-wife and eight of her family members before committing suicide in Vernon, British Columbia.
Contributed by: Reuters
