Canadian school shooter identified as 18-year-old with mental health issues
Police had previously visited the home of Jesse Van Rootselaar multiple times before the rampage in Tumbler Ridge that left nine dead
The suspect in a deadly school shooting in western Canada was an 18-year-old with mental health issues who killed her mother and stepbrother before attacking her former school, police said on Wednesday, but investigators did not offer a motive for one of the worst mass slaughters in Canadian history.
The killer, who police identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, died by suicide after the shooting on Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community of 2,400 people in the Pacific province of British Columbia. Police revised the death toll down to nine, including Van Rootselaar, from the initially reported 10.
On more than one occasion, Van Rootselaar had been apprehended under the provincial Mental Health Act for an assessment, said Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia. She once attended the school but dropped out four years ago.
“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,” McDonald said.
Unlike the United States, school shootings are almost unheard of in Canada, and federal politicians initially struggled to maintain their composure.