Tumbler Ridge, B.C., is trying to pick up the pieces after an extraordinary act of violence on Tuesday that left nine people dead, including the person believed responsible. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, once a local resident, was found dead at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School from an apparent self-inflicted wound after opening fire in the hallways and classrooms.
Before arriving at the school, Van Rootselaar is believed to have killed their own mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a house not far from the school. Within minutes, the violence shifted to the heart of the community’s school, where students were dismissed into lockdown and rushed to find safe corners in classrooms as shots rang out.
Inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary, police found a female teacher and five students, all between the ages of 12 and 13, who had been fatally wounded in the attack. Another student was critically injured but survived, and about 25 others escaped with non-life-threatening wounds. First responders and officers moved quickly, but for some families, that response came moments too late.
Van Rootselaar’s history with local authorities was marked by repeated mental health-related calls to their family home, and police had previously seized firearms there in the past. Investigators say the weapons used in Tuesday’s shootings are still under review. There is no clear motive yet, and police stress they have found no evidence of a wider conspiracy or additional suspects.
The fallout has been devastating. Tumbler Ridge Secondary and the elementary school in town are closed as the community seeks help for students and staff. Friends describe Van Rootselaar as someone who struggled quietly before the violence, but loved ones of the victims, like 12-year-old Kylie May Smith, are left facing a world forever changed.
In the heart of this grief, residents are trying to support one another. Families place flowers at makeshift memorials, teachers talk about students they’ll never see again, and a town that once felt invincible now grapples with how even the safest places can be touched by tragedy. The focus now is on healing, remembering those lost, and making sense of a senseless day.
