A 12-year-old girl has been identified as one of the five students who were gunned down in Canada’s second-deadliest school shooting on Tuesday.
Authorities have said Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, opened fire in the library at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia on Tuesday afternoon after killing his mother, Jennifer, and brother, Emmett, at their home.
Kylie Smith, 12, was killed in the rampage, alongside two other girls and two boys, as well as an unidentified female teacher.
More than two dozen others were also injured in the mass shooting.
Speaking to CTV about his daughter, Lance Younge described Smith as the ‘light of their family.’
‘She was just a beautiful soul. She loves art and anime. She wanted to go to school in Toronto and we just love her so much,’ he said, noting that she was ‘thriving in high school.’
‘She never hurt a soul.’
Questions now remain about what may have drove Van Rootselaar to target the school, as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed he stopped attending school four years ago at the age of 14.
Kylie Smith, 12, was one of five students killed when Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia on Tuesday afternoon
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, was seen happily gripping a rifle
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
