Sawt Falasteen - Canada probes mass shooter's past interactions with police, health system

Police commander Dwayne McDonald said authorities still don't know the motive in Tuesday's mass shooting, a rare occurrence in Canada, which has strict gun laws.

The shooter -- who took her own life -- was known to have mental health issues.

McDonald identified the shooter, who killed her mother and stepbrother before shooting dead another six at a school, as Jesse Van Rootselaar, a transgender woman who dropped out of the targeted high school four years ago.

The shooter was known to police, and "we've begun the process of reaching out to" the public health care system to "understand what interactions may have taken place," British Columbia Premier David Eby told a news conference outside the Tumbler Ridge town hall late Wednesday evening.

Authorities have said the shooter had previously held a firearms license which had lapsed and that weapons had previously been confiscated from her residence -- but were subsequently returned.

"I have a lot of questions. I know the people of Tumbler Ridge have a lot of questions," Eby said, adding officials want to do "all we can" to "prevent tragedies like this from happening again."

Nearly everyone has a connection to one of the victims in the small town in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, where hundreds gathered for the candlelight vigil.

"I couldn't wrap my head around it," said Emphraim Almazan, a local miner who moved to the tight-knit community of about 2,400 three years ago.

"I was like, there's no way it happened in Tumbler Ridge."

The initial toll was reported at nine before being revised down to eight, but "there's a young girl who is fighting for her life," Eby said.

Officers who entered the town's high school found six people dead -- a 39-year-old woman teacher and five students -- three 12-year-old girls and two boys, aged 13 and 12.

Twelve-year-old Maya Gebala was clinging to life Wednesday night, after being shot in the head and neck, her aunt Krystal Hunt told CBC.

The child "tried to lock the door of the library from the shooter to save the other kids," before being wounded Hunt said.

Police responded "within two minutes of the call," federal public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree said.

The shooter, armed with a long-barreled gun and a pistol, was found dead from "a self-inflicted gunshot wound" after the massacre, said McDonald, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police deputy commissioner in British Columbia.

"These children and their teachers bore witness to unheard of cruelty. I want everyone to know this: our entire country stands with you, on behalf of all Canadians," Prime Minister Mark Carney said in an emotional address to parliament.

Carney described Tumbler Ridge as a tough, blue-collar place of "miners, teachers, construction workers" who represent "the very best of Canada: resilient, compassionate and strong."

- 'Will get through this' -

"We will get through this. We will learn from this. But right now, it's a time to come together, as Canadians always do," Carney said.

Britain's King Charles, the monarch of Canada, said in a statement that he and Queen Camilla were "profoundly shocked and saddened" by the attack.

School shootings remain rare in Canada compared to the neighboring United States.

The tragedy ranks among the country's deadliest, following the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting which claimed 22 lives and led to a ban on many assault weapons.

Police identified Van Rootselaar as transgender, saying that she began to transition six years ago and identified as a woman both "socially and publicly."

- Small community -

Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told Canadian broadcaster CBC he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in lockdown.

He said initially he "didn't think anything was going on," but started receiving "disturbing" photos of the carnage.

He stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school.

Area schools will remain closed for the rest of the week.

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U.Shaheen--SF-PST