A shooting at a school in British Columbia left eight dead, including a woman whom police believe to be the shooter, while two more people were found dead at a nearby home, Canadian authorities said on Tuesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said more than 25 people are injured, including two who were airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, after the shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
The town of Tumbler Ridge in the Canadian Rockies is more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) north of Vancouver, near the border with Alberta. The provincial government website lists Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as having 175 students from Grades 7 to 12.
British Columbia Premier David Eby told reporters that police officers reached the school within two minutes. They found seven people dead, local police said in a statement, including a suspect who appeared to have died of a “self-inflicted injury”. An eighth person died while being transported to a hospital, and two more were found dead at a home the authorities believe was connected to the attack.
RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd told reporters that investigators had identified a female suspect but would not release a name, and that the shooter's motive remained unclear. He added that police are still investigating how the victims are connected to the shooter.
Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka said the whole community is grieving. “I broke down,” he said, saying it was “devastating” to learn how many had died in the community of 2,700, which he called a “big family.” “I have lived here for 18 years,” Krakowka said, “I probably know every one of the victims.”
Pastor George Rowe of the Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church went to the recreation centre where the victims’ families were awaiting more information. “It was not a pretty sight. Families are still waiting to hear if it's their child that's deceased, and because of protocol and procedure, the investigating team is very careful in releasing names,” Rowe said. “The big thing tonight was my having to walk away, and the families still waiting to find out. It is so difficult. Other pastors and counsellors are there, so they are not alone.”
Rowe once taught at the high school, and his three children graduated from there. “To walk through the corridors of that school will never be the same again,” he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post that he was devastated by the shooting in Tumbler Ridge. “I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,” he wrote.
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