Canadian police on Monday identified the person who carried out the school massacre as an 18-year-old woman with mental health issues, but did not give a motive for one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history, Reuters reported.
The shooter, named by police as Jesse Van Rotselaar, committed suicide after a shooting on Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community in the Pacific province of British Columbia. Police later revised the death toll to nine from an initial report of ten.
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"Police have been to that (family) address multiple times over the past few years, acting on concerns about the suspect's mental health," said Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in British Columbia.
McDonald said Van Rotselaar, who was born male but began identifying as female six years ago, first killed her mother, 39, and her 11-year-old half-brother, in the family home.
She then went to the school, where she killed the teacher (39), as well as three 12-year-old female students and two male students - one 12 and one 13 years old.
"We believe the suspect acted alone… it's too early to speculate on a motive," McDonald said at a news conference.
Earlier, a visibly shaken Prime Minister Mark Carney promised Canadians that they would overcome what he called the "horrific" shooting.
Carney, who has postponed a trip to Europe, said he has ordered flags on all government buildings to be flown at half-staff for the next seven days.
"We will get through this. We will learn from this. But now is the time to come together, as Canadians always do in these situations, in these terrible situations, to support each other, to grieve together and to strengthen together," Carney told reporters, at one point appearing on the verge of tears.
Several prominent world leaders sent messages of condolences. King Charles, the head of state of Canada, said he was "deeply shocked and shaken" by the death.
Among the deadliest shootings in Canadian history
This shooting is among the deadliest in Canadian history. Canada has stricter gun laws than the United States (US), but Canadians can own firearms with a permit.
In April 2020, a 51-year-old man dressed in a police uniform and driving a fake police car killed 22 people during a 13-hour rampage in the province of Nova Scotia, before being shot dead by police at a gas station.
In Canada's worst school shooting, in December 1989, a gunman killed 14 female students and wounded 13 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, before committing suicide.
"There is no word in the English language strong enough to describe the level of devastation this community has experienced," said Larry Newfeld, the local member of parliament in the provincial parliament.
"It will take a tremendous amount of effort and a tremendous amount of courage to fix that horror," he told CBC News.
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