At least nine dead and dozens injured in shootings at high school and home in British Columbia, authorities say

At least nine people were killed and dozens more wounded in a shooting at a high school and a residence in the northeastern part of British Columbia province, Canadian police said Tuesday. The suspected shooter is dead, authorities said.

The school shooting was first reported at 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time at Tumbler Ridge High School, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a news release.

Authorities responded and found six people dead inside the school, RCMP said, and a seventh person died while being transported to a hospital.

Police responded to a second crime scene at a residence believed to be linked to the school shooting, where two more people were found dead, RCMP reported. The exact nature of his injuries was not immediately revealed.

Two more people involved in the school shooting were airlifted to area hospitals with serious or life-threatening injuries, police said.

The suspected shooter was found dead at school from a “self-inflicted injury,” Canadian police said.

About 25 other people were evaluated at a local medical center for non-life-threatening injuries, the RCMP said.

RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd told reporters that investigators had identified a female suspect but did not release a name and that the shooter’s motive remained unclear. He added that police were still investigating how the victims were related to the shooter.

The Peace River South School District initially said Tuesday that there was a “lockdown and security” at both the high school and Tumbler Ridge Elementary School. He later said both schools would remain closed for the rest of the week.

The provincial government website lists Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as having 175 students in grades 7 to 12.

Speaking to Canadian station CBC Radio on Wednesday, Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darry Krakowka described the community of about 2,700 people as “one big family” where “everyone knows each other.” He did not elaborate on the identity of the shooter and said the RCMP was still investigating.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said he was suspending a planned trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Munich, Germany. He was scheduled to announce a long-awaited defense industrial strategy in Halifax on Wednesday before traveling to Europe for the Munich Security Conference.

“I am devastated by today’s horrific shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia,” Carney said in a statement on social media. “My prayers and deepest condolences go out to the families and friends who have lost loved ones in these horrific acts of violence.”

David Eby, Premier of British Columbia, wrote: “Our hearts are in Tumbler Ridge tonight with the families of those who have lost loved ones. The government will ensure every possible support to community members in the coming days as we all try to come to terms with this unimaginable tragedy.”

Canada’s history of gun violence

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada, especially in school settings. Nearly four decades have passed since one of the country’s most notorious massacres, when a shooter killed 14 students and wounded 13 others at the Ecole Polytechnique University in Montreal, Quebec, in 1989, according to the Canadian government.

Canada’s deadliest attack occurred more recently. In April 2020, 22 people were killed in a 12-hour shooting that affected several cities in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, Canadian news outlet CBC News reported. In response, the government passed a ban on assault weapons.

In January 2017, a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, capital of the province of Quebec, left six people dead and 19 others injured, according to the office of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

A year earlier, in January 2016, a student opened fire at a remote high school in La Loche, Saskatchewan, killing two and wounding seven, after first killing two of his cousins ​​in their home, according to CBC News.

Only a handful of significant acts of gun violence took place in Canada between 1996 and 2014, including: a wedding massacre in Vernon, British Columbia, during which a man killed nine of his relatives; an attack on Ottawa, Ontarioin which a former city transit employee shot and killed four of his colleagues; and separate shootings of police officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, and Moncton, New Brunswick, that occurred roughly a decade apart.