Canada police identify shooting suspect as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar

Police say the suspect had apprehended for a mental health assessment on more than one occasion.Published On 12 Feb 2026The suspect in a school mass shooting in Canada that killed eight people was an 18-year-old with a history of contact with police over her mental health, police have said.Canadian police identified the suspect on Wednesday as Jesse Van Rootselaar, saying she had died from a self-inflicted wound after carrying out the attack in the remote mountain community of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia province.Recommended Stories list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2Canadian police say 8 killed in British Columbia’s Tumbler Ridge shootinglist 2 of 2Tumbler Ridge mass shooting: What we know about Canada’s school attackend of listIt was Canada’s deadliest mass killing since 2020, when an armed man killed 13 people in Nova Scotia and set fires that caused nine more deaths.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Van Rootselaar had killed her 39-year-old mother and an 11-year-old stepbrother before the attack on her former school nearby.The victims included a 39-year-old teacher and five students – three girls and two boys, aged 12 to 13 – while more than 25 were wounded, two of them severely, police said.RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald told a news conference that Van Rootselaar’s mental health issues had seen her apprehended under the provincial Mental Health Act for an assessment on more than one occasion.“Police had attended that [family] residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, ⁠dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect,” he said.He said Van Rootselaar was born male, but began identifying as a female six years ago. She had dropped out of school ⁠four years ago, police said.The motive for the attack remains unclear, with McDonald saying it was “too early” to speculate on the shooter’s motivations.Shooter acted aloneMcDonald said police believed Van Rootselaar acted alone, and police had no information to suggest anyone had been specifically targeted at the school.