The transgender teenager had mental health issues and interactions with police in the years leading up to the tragic shooting that claimed the lives of eight people, including six children.
Mass shooting in Canada ‘one of the worst’ in the country’s history
At least nine people have been killed and others injured in shootings at schools and homes in British Columbia, Canada.
As the families of six children and two women are shocked and grieve their losses in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting, details about the shooter’s mental health issues and past with police are emerging.
Deputy Chief Dwayne McDonald of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a press conference on Wednesday, February 11, that the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Loetzeler, was born male, began transitioning six years ago and identifies as female.
McDonald said police identified Van Roetzelar using a name he chose.
On Tuesday, Van Rootseller murdered his 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at their home in the small hamlet of Tumbler Ridge, about 1,100 miles north of Vancouver. She then went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and apparently started firing shots at random, McDonald said.
McDonald said she killed five people at the school, one in the stairwell and the others in the library. The victims were three 12-year-old girls, one 12-year-old boy, one 13-year-old boy, and a 39-year-old woman who worked as a teacher at the school. Police initially said six people were killed at the school, but the number was revised to five on Wednesday after a woman who was airlifted to hospital in critical condition was mistakenly included among the dead.
McDonald said that when police arrived within two minutes of the shooting, Van Luetzeler fired at them and they fled into the building. Van Rootseller was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A long gun and a modified handgun were also recovered from the scene.
Learn more about what we know so far about Van Rootseller, what police say about her motive, and her disturbing online history.
Jesse Van Rootseller was known to police
Over the past few years, police have responded to Jesse Van Rootseller’s home “multiple times” due to concerns about her mental health, McDonald told reporters Wednesday.
He said that several years ago, police seized firearms from his home and took Mr. Van Loetzeler to hospital for examination under Canada’s Mental Health Act. MacDonald said police last visited the home last year and did not know whether Van Rootseller was actively receiving treatment for her mental health issues.
Regarding the seizure of weapons, it later said, “The legal owners of the firearms petitioned for their firearms to be returned, and they were returned.”
He said Van Rootseller does not have any firearms registered in her name.
What are police saying about a potential motive?
MacDonald said there was no immediate information to suggest Van Luetzeler was a victim of bullying, adding that she dropped out of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School four years ago. The reason was not disclosed.
He said investigators have not found any notes that shed light on Van Luetzeler’s motives, and investigators do not believe she was targeting anyone in particular in the school shooting. They also believe she acted alone.
“We don’t know the motive yet,” McDonald said. “It is certainly something we are passionately pursuing, but it would be premature to speculate on motives at this time.”
Anti-hate group: Gunman had a ‘troubling pattern’ online
The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism said preliminary findings show that Van Rootselaar “followed a troubling pattern of online radicalization” and that her online activity was “characterized by an association with white supremacist ideology and a self-proclaimed addiction to gore content.”
The group said she has an “extensive digital footprint across platforms,” including sites where users can watch videos of people being beheaded, tortured, raped and executed. ADL investigated this website and issued a warning.
In a report issued last year, the ADL said two mass shooters in recent history have created accounts on the site and have “increasingly engaged in extremist ideology, including adopting white supremacist views.” They identified the shooter as: Natalie Rapnow, the 15-year-old who killed a teacher and teenage students and injured six others at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, who committed suicide in December 2024. Solomon Henderson, 17, shot and killed a 16-year-old girl and injured a male student at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, before dying by suicide in January 2025.
ADL said the site “acts as a virtual space where users, especially young people, can access extremist content with graphic violence, potentially desensitizing users and increasing the risk of ideologically motivated violence.”
Shooter’s mother supports transgender rights, posts about guns
In July, Van Luzeler’s mother posted on what appeared to be her own Instagram account that she supported the protection of transgender children and criticized “keyboard warriors.”
“As a conservative liberal who lives upstate and loves small-town living, I truly hope that the hate I see online is just bored old men and not real hate,” she wrote in July 2024. “Do better and educate yourself.”
In September 2025, she posted about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, saying she was glad she wasn’t politically far right or far left, adding, “Political extremism blinded by anger is spiritual.”
She posted on her Facebook page that she was a gun owner. She once updated her profile picture to a picture of six guns on a rack with the caption, “Maybe I should take them out for target practice.”
In a July 2021 post, she wrote that her followers should check out her son Jesse’s YouTube channel. “He posts about things he likes, like hunting, self-reliance, and guns,” she says. “This is his way of sharing his life.”
By Wednesday, YouTube had removed the channel, writing that it had been “removed for violating our community guidelines.”
What’s happening at Tumbler Ridge now?
Investigators are looking into all aspects of the case, including how Van Luetzeler obtained the gun despite his struggles with mental health.
While some families are grieving the loss of a loved one, the two surviving victims of the shooting are in critical condition and fighting for their lives, McDonald said.
The Tumbler Ridge community of about 2,400 people is reeling but working together to help those directly affected by the shooting. They left bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals outside the school, and one of its windows hung a rainbow flag and a message that read, “Everyone is welcome here.”
“I know all the victims… We are a small community,” Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka told CBC News. “I don’t call them residents. I call them family.”
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter covering breaking news, cold case investigations and the death penalty for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
Contributor: Michael Loria, USA TODAY
This story has been updated to include a map of Tumbler Ridge Middle School.
