At least nine people were killed and dozens more injured in shootings at a high school and residence in the northeast part of the province of British Columbia, Canadian police said Tuesday. The suspected shooter is dead, officials said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police declined to identify the shooter or clarify details about the gun, such as its model and whether it was registered, with a spokesperson telling CBS News on Wednesday that additional updates "will be provided as information becomes available."
The school shooting was first reported at 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, the RCMPsaid in a news release.
Authorities responded to find six people dead inside the school, the RCMP said, and a seventh person died while being transported to a hospital.
Police responded to a second crime scene at a residence that is believed to have been linked to the school shooting, where two more people were found dead, the RCMP reported. The exact nature of their injuries were not immediately disclosed.
Two more people from the shooting at the school were airlifted to area hospitals with serious or life-threatening injuries, police said.
The suspected shooter was found dead in the school from a "self-inflicted injury," Canadian police said.
About 25 others were assessed at a local medical center for non-life-threatening injuries, the RCMP said.
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. He added that police were still investigating how the victims were connected to the shooter.
The Peace River South School District initially said Tuesday that there was a "lockdown and secure and hold" at both the secondary school and the Tumbler Ridge Elementary School. It later said both schools would be closed through the rest of the week.
The provincial government website lists Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as having 175 students from Grades 7 to 12.
Speaking with Canadian station CBC Radio on Wednesday, Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darry Krakowka described the community of about 2,700 people as "one big family" where "everybody knows everybody." He did not elaborate on the identity of the shooter and said the RCMP was still investigating.
The office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was 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.
"I am devastated by today's horrific shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.," Carneysaidin a statement on social media. "My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence."
David Eby, premier of British Columbia,wrote: "Our hearts are in Tumbler Ridge tonight with the families of those who have lost loved ones. Government will ensure every possible support for community members in the coming days, as we all try to come to terms with this unimaginable tragedy."
Canada's gun violence record
Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada, especially in school settings. It has been nearly four decades since one of the country's most notorious massacres, when a shooter killed 14 female students and wounded 13 others at Ecole Polytechnique University in Montreal, Quebec, in 1989,according to the Canadian government.
Canada's deadliest attack happened more recently. In April 2020, 22 people were killed in a 12-hour shooting rampage that touched multiple cities in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, Canadian news outletCBC Newsreported. The government passedan assault weapons banin response.
In January 2017, a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, the capital of Quebec province, left six people dead and 19 others wounded,accordingto the office of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
A year before that, in January 2016, a student opened fire at a remote high school in La Loche, Saskatchewan, killing two and injuring seven, after first killing two of his cousins at home, according toCBC News.
Only a handful of significant acts of gun violence took place in Canada between 1996 and 2014, including: a massacre at a wedding inVernon, British Columbia,during which a man killed nine of his relatives; an attack inOttawa, Ontario, in which a former employee of the city's transit service shot and killed four of his colleagues; and separate shootings of police officers inMayerthorpe, Alberta, andMoncton, New Brunswick, which happened roughly a decade apart.
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