Feb. 11 (UPI) — Canadian police said 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed six people at a Canadian school after killing her mother and step-brother before taking her own life on Tuesday.
Royal Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald told media Wednesday that the shooting began at her mother’s home, where she shot and killed her 39-year-old mother, Jannifer Strang, and 11-year-old step-brother. Rootselaar then went to nearby Tumbler Ridge Secondary School for reasons still unknown to police investigators.
While at the school, Rootselaar killed a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old female students and two male students, ages 11 and 12, McDonald said.
She also wounded 25 others before taking her own life with what police said likely was a self-inflicted wound. Investigators recovered a long gun and a modified pistol at the school.
Among the wounded, two were airlifted to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, and about 100 students were evacuated after police arrived at the school.
Rootselaar previously attended Tumbler Ridge Secondary School but dropped out four years ago, McDonald said.
He said there was no indication that she dropped out due to bullying or harassment or otherwise encountered difficulty at the school, but local police had responded to several calls to Rootselaar’s family home in recent years due to mental health issues, sometimes involving firearms.
McDonald told media the delay in identifying Rootselaar as the suspected killer was partly due to the need to notify her next of kin and partly to ensure they had accurate information.
Preliminary reports incorrectly said nine were killed, plus the shooter, during the event that was reported to the RCMP at 1:20 p.m. MST.
Police issued a public alert while responding to the school and lifted the alert at 5:45 p.m.
The names of the school shooting victims had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon.
Tumbler Ridge is a town of about 2,400 and is located in northeastern British Columbia near the Alberta border.