Heartbreak engulfed Tumbler Ridge, a quaint coal-mining hamlet in British Columbia, after a gunman unleashed terror at the local high school, killing nine in a spree that ended with the attacker’s suicide. The incident, one of Canada’s most devastating in decades, has prompted an outpouring of support and sorrow.
RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd reported seven deaths at the school and two at a proximate home, with the incidents intertwined. The assailant, identified in emergency alerts as a female-appearing individual with brown hair and dressed in feminine attire, perished by self-inflicted means on site.
During a virtual press update Tuesday evening local time, Floyd highlighted the safe extraction of nearly 100 pupils and educators. Medical response was rapid: two gravely wounded were helicoptered to hospitals, and 25 more assessed at a community clinic.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney shared his devastation online, terming it ‘horrific violence’ that defies understanding. BC Premier David Eby labeled it an ‘unfathomable sorrow,’ committing to bolster community recovery efforts.
Investigators are tight-lipped on the shooter’s background or impetus, focusing on a thorough probe. Tumbler Ridge, with its 2,400 inhabitants and fame for fossil sites including dinosaur footprints, stands stunned.
This rare calamity evokes memories of past horrors like the 1989 Montreal school shooting (14 dead) and the 2020 Nova Scotia massacre (22 victims). Floyd vowed exhaustive efforts to reveal why this happened, as the nation unites in grief and resolve for healing.