Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, is suspected of fatally shooting six people and wounding 25 others at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School
The first pictures have emerged of the suspected school shooter since the deadly attack at a school in Canada.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, is suspected of fatally shooting six people and wounding 25 others at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday, February 10. A chilling picture has emerged of Jesse Van Rootselaar holding a rifle and smiling, shared by Australian news site news.com.au.
It is unclear how old the suspect was in the photograph.
The attack on Tuesday is the second-deadliest school shooting in Canadian history since 14 students were killed at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.
Three 12-year-old girls, two boys aged 12 and 13, and a 39-year-old female teacher were killed at the Tumbler Ridge school, police said. Two others, a 39-year-old woman named Jennifer Strang and an 11-year-old boy were identified by police as Van Rootselaar’s mum and stepbrother. They were reportedly shot by Van Rootselaar before the attack on the school.
Authorities said Van Rootselaar, who identified as transgender and went by female pronouns, died by a self-inflicted gunshot on the school premises, bringing the death toll to nine.
Officers entered the school to locate the threat and within found the shooter deceased. The suspect was identified as Van Rootselaar, a resident of Tumbler Ridge.
Two firearms, a long gun and a modified handgun, were recovered.
Residents of Tumbler Ridge, a remote town of about 2,400 people in the foothills of the Rockies, were sent a text alert on Tuesday afternoon which is reported to have described the suspect as a “female in a dress with brown hair”.
Asked by reporters if Van Rootselaar was transgender, Deputy Commissioner McDonald said police were identifying the suspect “as they chose to be identified in public and in social media”.
“I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identified as female, both socially and publicly,” he added.