In the science classroom at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday, teacher Mark Deeley used a chair to block the door when he heard shots and knew his students were at risk.
Inside the room, older students comforted younger ones, offering snacks and telling jokes to mask the fear of what was happening outside.
B.C. Premier David Eby said Deeley’s own son was in the washroom at the time, but the teacher locked the door to keep the other children in his classroom safe.
When Deeley spotted a critically injured child in the hallway, he brought them into the classroom.
“Mr. Deeley and two students administered first aid to that child, provided that child with comfort and support, all the while the bigger kids in the classroom supporting the smaller kids,” Eby said.
“I hope I’m never called on to do what they had to do. But having spent a couple days here now in Tumbler Ridge, I can tell you that what they did is emblematic of this town.”
Eby was speaking at a vigil Friday attended by Canadian politicians of all stripes, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, to remember the eight people who were killed on Tuesday.
A crowd of hundreds attending the vigil, holding candles and photos of those who were lost in the close-knit community, where everyone is a familiar face. The names of students Kylie Smith, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert, Abel Mwansa Jr. and Ezekiel Schofield, as well as education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand, were read aloud.
Carney took time to name and describe each of the six people killed at the school.
He said Jennifer and Emmett Jacobs also “deserve to be mourned.” The bodies of the mother and brother of the killer, Jesse Van Rootselaar, were found in a home not far from the school.
The prime minister said there’s nothing anyone can do to fill the silence left by the loss of those killed.
He said the community has always been defined by people who care for each other.
“And when the unimaginable happened on Tuesday, you were there again. First responders at the school within two minutes. Teachers shielding their children,” he said.
“You held each other — as you’re holding each other right now. This is grace. It’s what we do for each other; it’s what we receive from each other. Open hearts when the world falls apart.
“Tumbler Ridge is full of grace this evening.”
Earlier in the day, more details were released about the mass shooting that rocked the small community of roughly 2,500 people and thrust it into a national spotlight.
Police said officers from the five-person RCMP detachment arrived at the school to sounds of fire alarms and a voice yelling from a window that the shooter was upstairs.
In seconds they were through the door and up the stairs, where RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said they were met with gunshots.
Soon after, more gunfire.
McDonald said those were not directed at any person but were the sound of the killer taking her own 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,” he said.
Van Rootselaar, 18, brought a long gun and a modified rifle into the school.
“In speaking with investigators, there was no specific targeting of any individuals (at the school),” McDonald told reporters outside the town hall.
“This suspect was, for lack of a better term, hunting. They were prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with.”
Four guns in total have been seized as part of the investigation, McDonald said, two from the family home and two from the school.
He said investigators don’t know where the primary gun used in the shooting at the school came from.
“We’re trying to determine how our suspect got that firearm, and that investigation is continuing,” he said.
He said a shotgun taken from the home is an unregistered weapon and has never been seized by police.
Investigators have said that police had previously been to the family’s home, where firearms were seized under the Criminal Code and later returned.
McDonald said Friday that the shooter’s mother had a valid licence but there were no firearms registered to it. He added that there are certain types of firearms that do not have to be registered.
Police said a specialized team of investigators is completing a “thorough assessment of the suspect’s online activity and digital footprint” as well as reviewing all previous police or professional interactions with the suspect.
Investigators have said officers had previously made multiple visits to the home for mental health concerns.
Autopsies on the eight victims and the shooter are expected to be completed by the end of the weekend.
McDonald said two children seriously injured at the school remain in hospital.
Police said officers have so far interviewed more than 80 students, educators and first responders.
RCMP have launched an online portal where they are asking people to share evidence, such as footage captured on phones inside the school.
The school has been closed since the shootings and Eby promised the crowd on Friday that students would not be forced to return there.
“We will provide a safe place for you to go to school,” he said.
Eby got the only chuckle of the evening when he assured the crowd that some things wouldn’t change.
“Mr. Deeley asked me, wherever that is … to make sure that his lizard and his fish go to this new place. Because he says it’s got to be different, but it also needs to be familiar,” Eby said.
“Things are going to be different, but there are going to be things that are familiar. And one of those things is the courage and the bravery and the amazing kids, the students, the young adults, the people of Tumbler Ridge.”
This report by The Canadian Press was published Feb. 13, 2026.
Jack Farrell and Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press
