A gunman killed seven people at a British Columbia secondary school Tuesday, while two others were found dead at a residence believed to be connected to the campus shooting, police said.
The attacks were carried out Tuesday afternoon in Tumbler Ridge, a small city in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
The shooter was also found dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the agency said.
“We believe we’ve been able to identify the shooter,” RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd said at an evening news conference. The release of the shooter’s name, however, would have to wait amid an ongoing investigation, he said.
Any possible connection between the shooter and the school or the residence where additional victims were found was still being investigated, Floyd said.
Police went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School about 1:20 p.m. based on a report of an active shooter, the RCMP said. Six victims were found dead on arrival, and an additional victim died en route to a hospital.
Two others were airlifted to medical facilities with life-threatening injuries, the RCMP said.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said police were at the school following the report of gunfire within two minutes.
“That speed and professionalism saved lives today,” he said at an evening news conference.
An estimated 25 other people at the location suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The campus, also described as a high school, was evacuated.
Police went to a residence believed to be connected to the attack and found two people dead inside, Floyd said.
It was too early to give an accounting of how many victims are children, he said, and a possible motive has not been determined.
“The scene was very dramatic, and there are multiple victims that are still being cared for,” Floyd said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that his government was working to ensure “the community is fully supported as best we can.” He called the violence “horrific” and offered condolences to families who lost loved ones in the attack.
“I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today,” he said.
In a statement on X, Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre called Tuesday’s attack “a senseless act of violence.”
British Columbia legislator Larry Neufeld described Tumbler Ridge as “a small, close-knit town.”
“The impact of an event like this is felt by everyone,” he said in a statement.
Eby said the day’s events won’t fade from memory quickly. “This is something that will reverberate for years to come,” he said at Tuesday night’s news conference.
Hockey legend and four-time Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser said Tumbler Ridge co-hosted boot camp for a group of Team Canada’s Olympic athletes in 2010.
“It’s a beautiful quaint town,” she said on X. “My heart hurts for the families of those lost and this community which always be forever special to me.”
Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger said at the news conference that trauma-informed counselors were being dispatched to the region to help people cope with the day’s attack, which she characterized as one of the deadliest in British Columbia history.
The municipality’s public school district said that instruction at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and Tumbler Ridge Elementary School was canceled through the end of the week and that mental support for students would be made available.
Tumbler Ridge was developed in 1981 to support coal miners and the local coal industry, according to the website Visit Tumbler Ridge. Its population is 2,399, according to the Canadian government.
