In a tragic incident, 18-year-old transgender teenager Jesse Strang committed one of Canada’s most lethal school shootings, beginning with a violent act at his family residence.
According to sources, Strang launched an attack in the library of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia on Tuesday afternoon, as reported by the Daily Mail.
On Wednesday, authorities identified the shooter as Jesse Van Rootselaar. It was noted that socially and within the school, he went by his mother’s surname, Strang.
The devastating event claimed the lives of a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls, and two boys aged 12 and 13. Additionally, 27 individuals were injured, with two requiring air transport to nearby hospitals for urgent care.
Strang ended his own life on the school grounds. Prior to this, he had taken the lives of his mother, Jennifer, 39, and his brother, Emmett, 11, at their home, as reported by CTV News.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed that although biologically male, Strang transitioned to female at the age of 12, six years prior to the incident.
‘We identify the suspect as they chose to be identified in public and social media,’ Dwayne McDonald, Deputy Commissioner of British Columbia RCMP said. ‘I can say Jesse was born as a biological male who six years ago began to identify as female both socially and publicly.’
Strang dropped out of school four years ago, when he was 14, and is understood to have struggled with his mental health.
Police also have a history of attendance at the family home, with officers responding to calls relating to both mental illness and weapons.
Students are pictured outside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in Canada on Tuesday after transgender mass shooter Jesse Strang killed 10
Children were led out of the school as emergency services rushed to the building following the shooting
‘Police have attended that residence in the past, approximately a couple of years ago, where firearms were seized under the Criminal Code,’ McDonald said.
‘I can say that at a later point in time, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for those firearms to be returned, and they were.’
Jennifer did not have a valid license for firearms at the time of her death.
Officers also responded to the home after receiving calls over mental health concerns.
Strang had previously been ‘apprehended for assessment’ under the mental health act, McDonald added.
Juno News and Western Standard News were among the first publications to identify Strang and described the shooter as a biological male who identifies as a woman.
Liam Irving and Juan van Heerden, former Tumbler Ridge students who said he was a few grades behind them in school, described Strang as a ‘quiet kid’ who was often seen ‘sitting by himself in the corner’.
Irving told the Western Standard Strang’s mother and younger brother were well known in the Tumbler Ridge community, and ‘good friends’ of his family.
‘There’s not one person in this town right now that’s not affected by this,’ he added.
Maya’s mother Cia Edmonds shared this photo from hospital as she played for a miracle after doctors told her the little girl wouldn’t last the night
Maya Gebala, 12, was shot in the neck and head and is not expected to survive the night. She is the only injured victim named so far.
Her mother Cia Edmonds shared a heartbreaking update from her daughter’s bedside in Vancouver Children’s Hospital.
‘We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night,’ she said on Wednesday afternoon.
‘I can feel her in my heart. I can feel her saying its going to be OK… she’s here… for how long we don’t know.
‘Our baby needs a miracle.’
Edmonds said she also grieved for the six families whose children were killed at the school, and those trying to come to terms with the shooting.
‘It was just a normal day. Our community is shattered,’ she said.
‘My heart bleeds for everyone who is trying to process this horrific string of events. Far too many are grieving already.’
