VANCOUVER: A shooting at a school in British Columbia left eight dead including a woman police believe to be the shooter, with two more people found dead at a nearby home, Canadian authorities said Tuesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said more than 25 people are injured, including two who were airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries, after the shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
School shootings are rare in Canada.
The town of Tumbler Ridge, which has a population of about 2,400 people, is more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) north of Vancouver, near the border with Alberta. The provincial government website lists Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as having 175 students from Grades 7 to 12.
RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd told reporters that investigators had identified a female suspect but would not release a name, and that the shooter’s motive remained unclear.
“We are not in a place to understand why or what may have motivated this tragedy,” Floyd said.
He added that police are still investigating how the victims are connected to the shooter.
“As part of the initial response to the active shooting, police entered the school to locate the threat. During the search, officers located multiple victims. An individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self‑inflicted injury,” RCMP said in a statement.
The statement added that seven people including the suspect were found dead at the scene, and an eighth died while being transported to a hospital. Two more were found dead at a home police believe to be connected to the attack.
The Peace River South School District said earlier Tuesday that there was a “lockdown and secure and hold” at both the secondary school and the Tumbler Ridge Elementary school.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in statement on social media that he was devastated by the shooting in Tumbler Ridge.
“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 has also suspended his planned trip to the Munich Security Conference following Tuesday's mass shooting, his office said. He had previously announced plans to be in Munich from Wednesday to Sunday.
British Columbia Premier David Eby called it an “unimaginable tragedy.”
Canada’s government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun control measures, including a recently broadened ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.
Tuesday’s shootings were Canada’s deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.
