Tumbler Ridge Girl’s Courage Lauded by MP After She Delivered Dying Boy’s Final Words

The MP representing Tumbler Ridge is describing a 12-year-old girl as a hero for trying to save two classmates shot in the mass killing in the northeastern B.C. community last month.

MP Bob Zimmer told the crowd at the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa this week that the girl, named Christina, pulled both Abel Mwansa Jr. and Maya Gebala under a table after the two 12-year-olds were shot at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School last month.

Abel died in Christina’s arms roughly 30 minutes later, but Maya remains in BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver with serious injuries, Zimmer said. Abel gave Christina a message for his parents before his death and she recently shared his final words with the boy’s mom and dad, Zimmer said at the event on March 24.

“Abel Jr., while appearing to know he was dying, asked Christina to pass along a message to his mom and dad: ‘Tell my mom and dad that I love them,’” Zimmer said.

Zimmer said they were “tragic, yet beautiful words from a beloved son to his beloved parents,” who wouldn’t have heard them but for the promise kept by Christina.

Abel and Maya were two of the victims at the school on Feb. 10, where Jesse van Van Rootselaar killed five Grade 7 students and a teacher’s aide and injured 27 others before shooting himself. The 18-year-old shooter also killed his mother and 11-year-old half brother earlier that day.

Zimmer told the crowd at the prayer breakfast that Maya is alive in part because of Christina’s heroism. Maya was shot three times at close range, with one bullet entering her head above her left eye, a second striking her neck, and the third grazing her cheek and earlobe. She has undergone multiple surgeries to repair the damage.

Zimmer, who visited Maya in the hospital over the weekend, said he was pleased to see how active she was, adding that she was able to move her arm and leg, as well as follow his conversation.

Things are “looking good,” he said, but she still has “long ways to go.”

Call for Inquiry

Zimmer told reporters on March 25 that he is expecting the federal government to call a public inquiry into the shooting at the secondary school, which serves students in grades 7 through 12 and has less than 200 students.

The Conservative MP says other investigations still need to wrap up beforehand, but he and the community expect the “public inquiry will happen.”

Zimmer first began calling for a federal inquiry last month, saying the mourning families need answers about the shootings. He also said the inquiry should focus on prevention.

“We have a responsibility so that it never happens again, and I think that an inquiry will find those answers and then make recommendations,” Zimmer said during a joint March 1 press conference in Vancouver with Tory MP Frank Caputo.

Zimmer and Caputo said in a statement posted to social media that an investigation should be conducted under the Inquiries Act by an independent commission with the power to subpoena witnesses, take evidence under oath, request documents, and present findings and recommendations free of any interference.

The commission’s goal would be to answer key questions of “grave importance,” including those related to the shooter’s mental health, firearm access, and the history of interactions and relationships between the shooter and both law enforcement and social services, they said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the federal government would “fully explore” all possible measures to prevent future tragedies like the one that occurred in Tumbler Ridge.

The shooting is currently the subject of a police investigation. British Columbia’s chief coroner announced earlier this month his office would open an inquest into the deaths at the conclusion of the police probe.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.