A shooting at a high school in the small community of Tumbler Ridge, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, left at least nine dead and 27 injured on Tuesday (10), sparking national outrage and an immediate mobilization of authorities. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported that they have already identified the person responsible for the attack, who was found dead at the scene with wounds described as apparently self-inflicted. The identity, however, has not been disclosed.
According to Superintendent Ken Floyd of the Mounted Police, the suspect matches the description issued in an emergency alert during the incident, which mentioned “a woman with brown hair wearing a dress,” although there is still no official confirmation of the gender. According to reports on the case, local residents identified the person as an 18-year-old young woman, as reported by the Canadian newspaper Western Standard.
The alleged identification was confirmed to the outlet by former schoolmates, including Liam Irving and Juan van Heerden. They said they had spoken with eight people who were inside the school at the time of the attack, reinforcing the impact of the episode among students and residents in the area.
Irving described the young woman as “a quiet person,” a few years younger and with no known history of aggression. Van Heerden also reported that she tended to remain isolated. Both told the Western Standard that the young woman identified as transgender.
In addition to the attack inside the school, reports attributed to former classmates indicate that, before arriving at the institution, she had killed her own mother and younger brother—both well-known in the community. The information heightened the local shock, given the scale of violence in a small town.
The first alerts about the attack began circulating around 1:20 p.m., prompting the RCMP to issue a public warning and dispatch teams to the school shortly afterward. However, the rapid mobilization of security forces did not prevent the attack from leaving a high number of victims.
The episode is already considered the third deadliest attack in Canadian history, behind only the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989 and the attacks in the province of Nova Scotia in 2020.
Canadian political authorities expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and the Tumbler Ridge community. British Columbia Premier David Eby stated that the provincial government will provide all necessary support to those affected. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was devastated by the attack and canceled a planned international trip following the tragedy.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also mourned the episode and offered condolences to the affected families, while emergency teams continue to provide care for the injured and psychological support to students and residents in the area.
Fonte: brasil247.com