Canada Mourns as 9 people are confirmed in Canada single shooting

The Police in Canada have said that authorities still have no idea of the motive in Tuesday’s mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge where 9 people who included the shooter were killed after an assailant opened fire at a High School in Western Canada in one of the country’s deadliest mass casualty events in recent history.

The Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has described the incident as an act of “unheard-of cruelty” in murdering 8 people and wounding dozens more in a remote mining town.

Police officer Dwayne McDonald said authorities still have no idea of the motive in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, but identified the shooter as an 18 year old woman who was born biologically as a male.

McDonald revised the toll down to eight from nine, due to earlier confusion over the condition of one of the victims who is still alive among the 25 who were injured.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police deputy commissioner in British Columbia, said that the shooter, armed with a long-barreled gun and a pistol, was found dead from “a self-inflicted gunshot wound” after the massacre and the shooter’s victims included her mother and brother.

Prime Minister Carney has directed that that Canadian flags will be lowered nationwide to half-staff for seven days following the tragedy, among the deadliest shootings in Canada’s history as messages of condolences and support started flooding in from world leaders.

Prime Minister Carney said that what happened has left the nation in shock and all in mourning.

“These children and their teachers bore witness to unheard-of cruelty. I want everyone to know this: our entire country stands with you, on behalf of all Canadians,” Prime Minister Carney said in an emotional address to Parliament. 

Tumbler Ridge, a tight-knit community of about 2,400 residents, lies in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies near the provincial border with Alberta, hundreds of kilometers from any major city.

Prime Minister Carney described it as a tough, blue-collar place of “miners, teachers, construction workers” who represent “the very best of Canada: resilient, compassionate and strong.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement that the Police said that the emergency responders found six people shot dead at Tumbler Ridge’s secondary school, while a seventh person died in transit to hospital and two others were killed at a nearby residence, while at least 25 people were wounded in the attack.

The suspect, initially described by the Police in an emergency alert as a emale in a dress with brown hair, was found dead at the school.

Britain’s King Charles, the monarch of Canada, said in a statement that he and Queen Camilla were profoundly shocked and saddened to learn of the attack saying that in such a closely connected town, every child’s name will be known and every family will be a neighbor and school shootings remain rare in Canada compared to the neighboring United States.

This tragedy ranks among the country’s deadliest, following the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting which claimed 22 lives and led to a ban on many assault weapons.

Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told Canadian broadcaster that he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in ‘lockdown’ and initially he didn’t think anything was going on, but started receiving “disturbing” photos about the carnage.

He stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until Police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school and authorities have ordered that area schools remain closed for the rest of the week.

Pastor George Rowe of Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Church told journalists that it was very, very difficult to deal with.

“Everybody here, practically, they know everybody… I don’t think it will be a big surprise when the name is released because you’re in a small community,” Pastor Rowe said.

The attack has brought to Canada the type of mass shooting more common in the neighboring United States.