2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting. Canada

On February 10, 2026, a mass shooting occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. On that afternoon, Jesse Van Rootselaar killed his mother and half-brother at their home before going to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where he killed six people and injured 27 others before killing herself. Van Rootselaar was a former student of the school.

The incident was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada since the Nova Scotia attacks in 2020 and the deadliest school shooting in Canada since the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989.

Background

Tumbler Ridge is a small mining town with a population of 2,399, according to the 2021 census.

 Tumbler Ridge Secondary School is a public secondary school operated by School District 59 Peace River South, and it is the designated secondary school for the town's primary school. For the 2025–26 school year, the school had 191 students from grades 7 to 12.

Gun control legislation in Canada was greatly reinforced with the passage of the Firearms Act in 1995, following the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal.

 After the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, such restrictions were further strengthened, with the sale, transport, importation or use of certain models of "assault-style" firearms banned via an Order in Council, with the deadline for firearm disposal set at October 30, 2026.

 The Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is tasked with enforcing the act.

Attacks

Shooting of family members

The attacker's mother and 11-year-old half brother were shot and killed with a shotgun at their home at Fellers Avenue in Tumbler Ridge.

 Police had already been called to the school when a surviving resident and neighbours alerted them to this attack; the Vancouver Sun reported that this was the 8-year-old half-brother of the shooter.

School shooting

Van Rootselaar then went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School with a modified rifle and a long gun and opened fire, first killing a victim in a stairwell. He killed five others in the school's library and fatally shot herself shortly after police arrived. 

At approximately 2:20 p.m. MST,[18] RCMP received a report of an active shooter at the school, which is approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) from the family home. An alarm in the school instructed students to close the doors for a lockdown. Students then barricaded the doors with tables.

 A 17-year-old student in the school gym reported hearing "12 shots ring out in quick succession".

 An Alert Ready emergency alert was released in the region by the RCMP at around 3:15 p.m. MST, asking residents to shelter in place due to the active shooter situation. Other schools in the area were also placed on lockdown. The police emergency alert was cancelled at 6:45 p.m. MS Premier of British Columbia David Eby said the police had reached the school within two minutes of the initial reports.

 Gunshots from the attacker continued as the four RCMP officers responded at the scene.

Later on the day of the shooting, School District 59 announced that both schools in Tumbler Ridge would remain closed for the rest of the week.

Victims

Six people were found dead inside the school; a seventh was mistakenly reported as deceased en route to the hospital but survived.

 The dead at the school were identified as a 39-year-old education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand, three female students all aged 12, and two male students aged 12 and 13.

 Two people were found dead at a residence in Tumbler Ridge.

 RCMP confirmed that they were the perpetrator's mother, Jennifer Strang, and the perpetrator's 11-year-old half brother. Both had been shot before the perpetrator attacked the school.

Twenty-seven other people were treated for injuries, including two with serious injuries.

 A Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service aircraft was dispatched from Grande Prairie, Alberta. In a press conference, the British Columbia RCMP confirmed that two injured people were airlifted to Vancouver hospitals.

 One, a 19-year-old woman, was released from the hospital on February 16, while a 12-year-old girl with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and neck was airlifted to British Columbia Children's Hospital in Vancouver, and required several surgeries.

 One of the injured students sustained a catastrophic brain injury that left her with permanent cognitive and physical disabilities. She was subsequently released from the intensive care unit in April 2026 after her condition stabilized.