‘Canada stands by you,’ says an emotional PM Carney to grieving families after mass shooting

Vancouver: Canada is grappling with shock and grief after a mass shooting in the remote community of Tumbler Ridge left nine people dead, including seven at a secondary school and two at a nearby residence, in one of the worst such attacks in the country’s history.

Police said the suspected gunwoman was later found dead, apparently from a self-inflicted injury. Authorities have yet to establish a motive.

More than 25 others were injured in Tuesday’s violence, including two in critical condition who were airlifted to hospital. The tragedy unfolded in the mountain village of about 2,700 residents, located over 1,000 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, close to the Alberta border. Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which serves roughly 175 pupils in Grades 7 to 12, became the primary scene of the attack.

“Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you,” an emotional Prime Minister Mark Carney said as he arrived in Parliament.

Carney announced that flags on federal buildings would be lowered to half-mast for seven days, adding, “We will get through this."

School shootings are uncommon in Canada, which enforces comparatively strict firearms regulations. In the past, mass shootings have prompted tighter gun-control measures, including an expanded ban on weapons classified by the government as assault-style firearms.

The incident marks the country’s deadliest mass killing since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia murdered 13 people and set fires that claimed nine more lives.

In the aftermath, Carney cancelled a scheduled visit to Halifax and Munich, where he had been due to unveil a long-anticipated defence industrial strategy before attending the Munich Security Conference.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said officers reached the school within two minutes of receiving the alert. Footage circulating online showed students evacuating with their hands raised as police vehicles encircled the campus and a helicopter hovered above.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Ken Floyd confirmed that six victims were pronounced dead at the school, while a seventh died en route to hospital. Two additional bodies were discovered at a nearby home believed to be linked to the suspect. Floyd said the suspect had been identified but her name would not yet be released, and investigators were examining any relationship between her and the victims.

Mayor Darryl Krakowka described the toll on the close-knit community as overwhelming.

“I broke down,” Krakowka said. “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”

The Rev. George Rowe of the Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church visited a local recreation centre where families gathered for updates.

“It was not a pretty sight. Families are still waiting to hear if it’s their child that’s deceased and because of protocol and procedure, the investigating team is very careful in releasing names,” Rowe said Tuesday.

Rowe, a former teacher at the high school whose three children studied there, reflected on the emotional aftermath. “To walk through the corridors of that school will never be the same again,” he said.

Schools in the district will remain closed for the rest of the week as the community mourns.

Speaking earlier, Eby said he had discussed the “unimaginable tragedy” with the prime minister.

“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.”

AFP