Canadian authorities on Wednesday named an 18-year-old woman with a history of mental health concerns as the gunwoman in one of the deadliest school shootings in the country’s history, saying she acted alone and offering no immediate motive.
The killer, who police named as Jesse Van Rootselaar, committed suicide after the shooting on Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community in the Pacific province of British Columbia. Police revised the death toll down to nine from the initially reported 10.
"Police had attended that (family) residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect," said Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia.
McDonald said Van Rootselaar, who was born male but began to identify as a female six years ago, had first killed her mother, 39, and 11-year-old step-brother at the family home.
She then went to the school, where she shot a 39-year-old woman teacher as well as three 12-year-old female students and two male students, one aged 12 and one aged 13.
