Timeline of Events During the Tumbler Ridge Shooting

The Feb. 10 shooting at a secondary school and residence in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., claimed the lives of eight victims and the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Here’s what we know so far about the timeline of what happened.

Tumbler Ridge RCMP received and responded to a report of an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Southgate St. at 2:20 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (4:20 p.m. EST), according to RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald. He did not say how many officers attended the initial call.

“Our officers arrived on scene and immediately went into the school. As you can imagine, it was chaotic,” McDonald told reporters in a Feb. 13 press conference. “The fire alarms were going off. There was somebody that either leaned out or shouted out a window to our officers: ‘The suspect is upstairs. He’s upstairs.'”

McDonald said officers went to the stairwell and faced gunfire on the way to the library.

“It was a matter of seconds after that, there was more gunfire, not as we know now, having reviewed video, directed at any persons. And then ultimately, a suspect took their life.”

“I can say with confidence that from the moment the suspect encountered police, there were no further injuries to any other students in the school,” McDonald added.

Students were reportedly hiding in several locations throughout the school and some barricaded themselves inside classrooms. Linda Laroque said her 13-year-old granddaughter hid in a closet with 16 other students, according to AFP. She said her granddaughter heard all the gunshots.

The suspect, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, was also found dead inside the school from what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Student Accounts

Seventeen-year-old Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist said the shooting began shortly after the start of his mechanics class, according to Radio West. He said he heard the school’s alarm start sounding and then saw news online that a shooting had been reported, prompting him and the other students to barricade the door of the mechanics shop.

“It was definitely tense. I think we were all very nervous … trying to keep each other motivated and not fall into grief. But once people sent me some photos, at that point it set in what was actually happening,” Darien said, adding that he and others waited approximately two hours before RCMP came to evacuate them from the school.

Grade 12 student Amy-Lynn Ketellapper said students heard the principal shouting to lock down the school and hide inside a classroom just prior to the lockdown alarm going off, according to CTV. Amy-Lynn said she and other students hid for more than two hours behind a teachers’ desk.

Duncan McKay, a Grade 11 student at the high school, said he was in gym class when the alarm went off. He said he tried to keep other students as calm as he could after his teacher went up the stairs and saw bodies on the floor, according to Global News. The teacher was fired at and the bullet struck his pants, but did not hit his leg.

McKay said a Grade 7 student ran into the gym in a panic after that, and the older students tried to calm her and provide support. He said they were evacuated by RCMP officers after approximately two hours and 40 minutes.

Aiding the Injured

In addition to the deceased students, teacher, and shooter, police also located 27 individuals who had been injured in the attack, two of whom were airlifted for emergency surgery in Vancouver. The two have since been identified as Maya Gebala, 12, who is in critical condition, and Paige Hoekstra, 19, who is reportedly recovering from surgery.

The school grounds are in the southern end of town, less than a kilometre from the elementary school and the health centre where the injured were taken.

Maya’s mother, Cia Edmonds, said she saw two armed officers run into the school building at the start of the response, according to CBC. She then joined parents in the parking lot of the recreation centre, where another parent showed her a text message he had received from his child in the school.

The text said the student was fine but when Edmonds asked him to inquire how Maya was, the student replied to his father that “Maya’s been dragged out, and I believe she’s been shot.”

Maya was reportedly shot after trying to save other students in the library by locking the door.  Edmonds’ cousin Krysta Hunt described the scene to CityNews, saying Maya “tried to lock the door of the library from the shooter to save the other kids.”

“She tried to lock it and then ran under a table and he shot her,” Hunt said, adding that Maya probably wouldn’t have survived had her friend not noticed her finger twitching, recognized that she was still alive, and alerted the authorities.

Edmonds said she heard students rushed to help her daughter after the rounds struck her teacher and then hit her in the head.

Maya was taken to the health centre in town, where Edmonds saw staff cutting away her clothing in an attempt to save her. She was subsequently airlifted to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) sent an aircraft and crew out of Grande Prairie, Alta., in response to the shooting but did not transport any of the injured. Maya and Hoekstra were evacuated in air ambulances sent by B.C. Emergency Health Services.

Second Crime Scene

Investigators were made aware of a second crime scene at a residence on Fellers Avenue at 2:47 p.m. It is located roughly two kilometres away from the high school. McDonald did not specify the time taken to respond to this second crime scene, but noted that two deceased victims were found at the location.

These individuals have since been identified as Van Rootselaar’s mother, 39-year-old Jennifer Jacobs, and 11-year-old step-brother, Emmett Jacobs. McDonald said police believe they were killed by Van Rootselaar before the suspect left for the high school.

Residents in Tumbler Ridge received an emergency alert on their phones at 3:15 p.m. warning them of the shooting and describing the suspect as a “female in a dress with brown hair.” They were instructed to shelter in place and remain locked indoors, while students from Tumbler Ridge secondary and elementary schools were reportedly evacuated to the community centre to be reunited with parents.

At the time, police noted they were investigating whether a second suspect was involved, but later ruled out that possibility. McDonald said during a Feb. 11 press conference that Van Rootselaar was born a biological male but began a gender transition process roughly six years ago.

RCMP lifted the emergency alert at 6:45 p.m. and said there was no longer a threat to the public. Police put out a statement by 7 p.m. saying eight individuals had been found dead at the school and two dead at the residence connected to the suspect. Police corrected this assessment a day later, saying they initially thought one of the individuals airlifted to hospital had also died.

RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd addressed the media at 7:45 p.m. He said police did not yet know the motives of the shooter and confirmed the suspect mentioned in the alert was the same individual who had been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the school.