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Officers from the five-person RCMP detachment in Tumbler Ridge arrived at the community’s secondary school on Tuesday to sounds of fire alarms and a voice yelling from a window that the shooter was upstairs.
In seconds they were through the door and up the stairs, where RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said they were met with gunshots.
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Soon after, more gunfire.
McDonald said those were not directed at any person but were the sound of the killer taking her own life.
“I can say with confidence that from the moment the suspect encountered police, there were no further injuries to any other students in the school,” he said.
But by that time on Tuesday afternoon, six people — five children aged 12 and 13 and an education assistant — were dead, a tragedy that has rocked the small British Columbia community thrusting it into the national spotlight.
Police say 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, had already killed her mother and brother at a home about two kilometres away when she brought a long gun and a modified rifle into the school.
“In speaking with investigators, there was no specific targeting of any individuals (at the school)” McDonald told reporters outside the town hall on Friday.
“This suspect was, for lack of a better term, hunting. They were prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with.”
As forensic teams expect to work through the weekend at the Grade 7 to 12 school, the close knit community, where everyone is a familiar face, is remembering students Kylie Smith, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert, Abel Mwansa Jr., and Ezekiel Schofield as well as education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand.
As the community grieves, politicians from across Canada and around the world have paid their respects.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and other federal party leaders were in Tumbler Ridge on Friday, laying flowers among the growing pile that has formed since the tragedy.
The prime minister’s wife, Diana Fox Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, NDP interim leader Don Davies, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet all attended the memorial as well.
A small crowd of around 15 to 20 people gathered to watch.
Four guns have been seized in total as part of the investigation, McDonald said, two from the family home and two from the school.
He said investigators don’t know where the primary gun used in the shooting at the school came from.
“We’re trying to determine how our suspect got that firearm, and that investigation is continuing,” he said.
He said a shotgun taken from the home is an unregistered weapon and has never been seized by a police.
Investigators have said that police had previously been to the family’s home, where firearms were seized under the Criminal Code and later returned.
McDonald said Friday that the shooter’s mother had a valid licence but there were no firearms registered to it. He added that there are certain types of firearms that do not have to be registered.
Police said a specialized team of investigators is completing a “thorough assessment of the suspect’s online activity and digital footprint” as well as reviewing all previous police or professional interactions with the suspect.
Investigators have said officers had previously made multiple visits to the home for mental health concerns.
Autopsies on the eight victims and the shooter are expected to be completed by the end of the weekend.
McDonald said two children seriously injured at the school remain in hospital.
Police said officers have so far interviewed more than 80 students, educators and first responders.
RCMP have launched an online portal where they are asking people to share evidence, such as footage captured on phones inside the school.
— With files from Ashley Joannou
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