A gunman who murdered eight people in the second-deadliest school shooting in Canadian history is a transgender tearaway who also killed his mother and brother.
Jesse Strang, 18, opened fire in the library at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia on Tuesday afternoon, a parent whose son attends the school told the Daily Mail.
A female teacher was killed, alongside three girls and two boys aged between 13 and 17.
Strang took his own life at the school. He killed his mother, Jennifer, and brother, Emmett, at their home beforehand, CTV News reported.
Strang was named by Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wednesday as Jesse Van Rootselaar and described as a woman. He is understood to have used his mother’s name, Strang, socially and at school.
RCMP added that Jesse began identifying as female six years ago, aged 12 and said there had been multiple call-outs to his home related to his mental health.
Strang stopped attending school four years ago, aged just 14, the spokesman said.
A parent whose son attends the school said his child knew Strang and played sports with his sister
His son was at the academic institution Tuesday when Strang carried out the deadly massacre. He is now ‘afraid to go back to school’, his father added.
Juno News and Western Standard News were among the first publications to identify Strang and reveal his transgenderism. Initial reports described the shooter as ‘a female in a dress.’
Students outside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in Canada on Tuesday after transgender mass shooter Jesse Strang killed nine people, including himself
Maya Gebala was one of 27 people injured in the shooting. She was shot in the head and neck and is receiving urgent medical treatment at a hospital in Vancouver
A total of 25 people were injured in the massacre. Maya Gebala, 12, was shot in the neck and head and is not expected to survive the night. She is the only injured victim named so far.
Sources told the Daily Mail that Strang lived at the home with three relatives.
Strang is also believed to have used she/her pronouns on his since-deleted social media accounts.
Locals Juan van Heerden and Liam Irving told the Western Standard that Strang was a ‘quiet kid’ who was often seen ‘sitting by himself in the corner’.
Irving said his mother works at the school and was on the floor where the shooting took place. ‘She heard pretty much all the shots,’ he added.
Irving claimed Strang’s mother and younger brother were well known in the Tumbler Ridge community, and ‘good friends’ of his family.
‘There’s not one person in this town right now that’s not affected by this,’ he added.
Maya’s family said she was hit by shrapnel during the shooting but it was unknown how she was hit and how much damage was done.
Children were led out of the school after the shooting as authorities attended the scene
Tumbler Ridge is a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies
‘We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night,’ Maya’s mother Cia Edmonds said on Wednesday afternoon.
‘I can feel her in my heart. I can feel her saying its going to be OK… she’s here… for how long we don’t know.
‘Our baby needs a miracle.’
Edmonds said she also grieved for the six families whose children were killed at the school, and those trying to come to terms with the shooting.
‘It was just a normal day. Our community is shattered,’ she said.
‘My heart bleeds for everyone who is trying to process this horrific string of events. Far too many are grieving already.’
An emergency alert was issued to Tumbler Ridge residents around 1.20pm local time Tuesday, warning of an active shooter in the area.
An urgent lockdown alarm sounded in the hallways shortly after 1.30pm, instructing students and staff to barricade the doors.
Maya’s mother Cia Edmonds shared this photo from hospital as she played for a miracle after doctors told her the little girl wouldn’t last the night
Tumbler Ridge, a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies about 736 miles north of Vancouver, has a population of 2,400.
It is described as an ‘incredibly safe community’ by town councilors.
The remote community is known for its lakes, rivers, waterfalls and hiking trails. The area earned UNESCO Global Geopark status due to the presence of hundreds of dinosaur tracks and fossils.
The secondary school, which enrolls 175 students, and its elementary school, will be closed for the rest of the week.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post that he was devastated by the shooting.
‘I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,’ he wrote.
Carney’s office said he is suspending a planned trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Munich, Germany. He was set to announce a long-awaited defense industrial strategy in Halifax on Wednesday before heading to Europe for the Munich Security Conference.
Maya was one of at least two-dozen children and teachers wounded when a ‘female in a dress’ opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School
Eby, the province’s premier, told reporters he had spoken to Carney after what he called the ‘unimaginable tragedy’.
‘I know it’s causing us all to hug our kids a little bit tighter tonight,’ he said. ‘I’m asking the people of British Columbia to look after the people of Tumbler Ridge tonight.’
