A DEADLY shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School near Vancouver, British Columbia has claimed eight lives, including a woman believed by authorities to be the gunman, while two additional victims were discovered at a nearby residence, Canadian officials said on Tuesday.
AP reported on Wednesday that more than 25 people were injured, with two in critical condition airlifted to hospital, in what is one of the rarest school shootings in the country.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported that officers reached the school within two minutes of the incident.
Seven people were found dead on the premises, including the suspected shooter, who appears to have died from a self-inflicted injury. An eighth victim died en route to hospital. The two further fatalities were located at a home believed to be connected to the attack.
RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd confirmed that investigators had identified a female suspect but declined to release her name, noting that the motive remains unknown. Authorities are continuing to examine how the victims were connected to the shooter.
The town of Tumbler Ridge, nestled in the Canadian Rockies more than 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver near the Alberta border, has a population of around 2,700. Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which serves 175 students from Grades 7 to 12, has been left reeling.
Mayor Darryl Krakowka described the community’s grief as profound. “I broke down,” he said, calling it “devastating” to learn how many had died in what he described as a “big family.” He added, “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”
Pastor George Rowe of the Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church visited the recreation centre where families were awaiting news of loved ones.
“It was not a pretty sight. Families are still waiting to hear if it’s their child that’s deceased and because of protocol and procedure the investigating team is very careful in releasing names,” he said.
“The big thing tonight was my having to walk away and the families still waiting to find out. It is so difficult. Other pastors and counsellors are there so they are not alone.”
Rowe, a former teacher at the high school whose three children are alumni, added: “To walk through the corridors of that school will never be the same again.”
British Columbia Premier David Eby praised the speed of police response and expressed solidarity with the grieving town. “I know it’s causing us all to hug our kids a little bit tighter tonight,” he said. “I’m asking the people of British Columbia to look after the people of Tumbler Ridge tonight.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed his devastation in a social media post.
“I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,” he wrote.
Carney has suspended a planned trip to Halifax and Munich in response to the tragedy.
Canada has responded to past mass shootings with tightened gun control measures, including a recent expansion of the ban on firearms classified as assault weapons.
Tuesday’s attack marks the deadliest mass shooting in Canada since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that claimed an additional nine lives. - February 11, 2026
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