2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting

Chronology of the Attacks

The attacks began on the afternoon of February 10, 2026, at a residence on Fellers Avenue in Tumbler Ridge where Jesse Van Rootselaar used a shotgun to kill her mother, Jennifer Strang, and her 11-year-old half-brother. An eight-year-old half-brother survived the home attack and, along with neighbours, alerted police. According to later U.S. court documents, Van Rootselaar then contacted her co-conspirator, James Cody Bryant, who instructed her on how to start the family's car as she did not know how to drive. A neighbour observed Van Rootselaar driving the car into a snowbank. She then proceeded to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which is located about 1.5 kilometres from the family home.

At approximately 2:20 p.m. MST, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police received the first reports of an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Van Rootselaar entered the school and opened fire, first killing a victim in a stairwell before moving to the school's library where she killed five more people. Students and staff initiated a lockdown, barricading doors with tables. A 17-year-old student in the gym reported hearing about twelve shots fired in quick succession. The RCMP issued an Alert Ready emergency alert for the region at around 3:15 p.m., instructing residents to shelter in place. Other schools in the area were also placed on lockdown as the situation unfolded.

Premier David Eby said police reached the school within two minutes of the initial reports. Van Rootselaar shot at the four responding officers before fatally shooting herself. Police recovered a long gun, described as the primary weapon, and a modified rifle initially reported as a handgun at the school scene. The police emergency alert was cancelled at 6:45 p.m. MST. School District 59 announced that both schools in Tumbler Ridge would remain closed for the rest of the week following the tragedy.

Victims and Injuries

The attack claimed nine lives in total, including the perpetrator. The two family members killed at the home were the perpetrator's mother, Jennifer Strang, and her 11-year-old half-brother. The six victims killed inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School were identified as 39-year-old education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand, three 12-year-old female students, a 12-year-old male student, and a 13-year-old male student. A seventh person at the school was mistakenly reported as deceased en route to the hospital but survived. The RCMP confirmed the identities of the two victims at the Fellers Avenue residence.

In addition to the fatalities, twenty-seven people were treated for injuries. Two of the injured sustained serious injuries that required advanced medical care. The emergency medical response included dispatching a Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service aircraft from Grande Prairie, Alberta. Two injured individuals were airlifted to Vancouver hospitals for specialized treatment. A 19-year-old woman was released from the hospital on February 16. A 12-year-old girl with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and neck was airlifted to British Columbia Children's Hospital in Vancouver. She required several surgeries and sustained a catastrophic brain injury that left her with permanent cognitive and physical disabilities. Her condition stabilized after months of medical intervention. She was subsequently released from the intensive care unit in April 2026.

Profile of the Perpetrator

Jesse Van Rootselaar, born August 4, 2007, was an 18-year-old trans woman identified by RCMP deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald as the shooter after initially being described by police as 'a female in a dress with brown hair'. She was also known as Jesse Strang, using her mother's last name, and had used the aliases Jesse Jacobs and Jesse Strain online, which later caused initial police confusion about a potential second shooter. McDonald stated Van Rootselaar had dropped out of school at age 14, approximately four years before the shooting. Under the law, education is compulsory until age 16, but it appears no one intervened to keep her in school. The RCMP found no information to suggest she had been bullied at school during her time as a student.

Van Rootselaar was born to Justin Van Rootselaar and Jennifer Strang. She was estranged from her father, which he blamed on choices made by her mother, and she never used his last name, preferring her mother's surname Strang. She and her siblings had been the subject of custody disputes between their parents. They had moved multiple times between Newfoundland and Labrador, including the town of Lawn, and parts of Western Canada like Grande Cache, Alberta and Powell River, British Columbia, between 2010 and 2015. Jennifer Strang was in the process of divorcing her husband, who was the father of three of her children including the 11-year-old killed, and who resided in Alberta at the time of the attack.

Van Rootselaar displayed a pronounced interest in guns and violent content online. Her YouTube profile picture featured an anime-style mascot and a rifle against a pink-and-white-striped background. A TikTok account under the username 'jessestrangg' featured multiple reposted videos of the transgender mass shooter who killed six people at a Christian school in Nashville in 2023. In a social media post around 2022, her mother promoted the teenager's YouTube channel noting her child 'posts about hunting, self-reliance, guns'. Videos on the YouTube channel showed Van Rootselaar firing a high-powered Desert Eagle handgun at a shooting range, carrying out target practice with a tactical 12-gauge shotgun, and firing a semi-automatic carbine at targets. A Reddit account linked to the shooter posted a video in 2023 at a firing range.

About five months before the shooting, she created an account on WatchPeopleDie.tv, a web forum dedicated to gore videos and violence that has been frequented by multiple other mass shooters, including Natalie Rupnow, whose profile was visited by Van Rootselaar. Her posts on the website included multiple photos of firearms, including an SKS rifle and a KRISS Vector gun, and videos of her firing them. Van Rootselaar also created a mall shooting simulator game on Roblox, according to the platform's administrators. She had previously held a valid minor's licence for ages 12 to 17, which only allows for temporarily borrowing a non-restricted firearm for approved purposes, but it had expired in 2024 and she was not the owner of any firearms because acquiring and possessing firearms is not allowed with a minor's licence.

According to McDonald, Jennifer Strang 'had a valid firearms licence but did not have any restricted firearms that would require registration.' RCMP confirmed that in a previous police visit in the past two years, 'firearms were seized under the Criminal Code'. The lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for them to be returned, and they were. A relative told The Globe and Mail that the seized guns had been returned 'roughly a month' prior to the shooting. Van Rootselaar had a documented history of poor mental health and drug use, writing on social media that she 'regularly took DMT' and tried to 'burn [her] house down after using psychedelic mushrooms'. The mother of one of the victims, who was also friends with the shooter's family, confirmed that Van Rootselaar had 'tried to light a mattress on fire 'and burn the house down.'' After using psilocybin mushrooms in October 2023, Van Rootselaar wrote about having 'a complete break from reality' and doing 'a lot of irrational things'. She claimed in 2023 to be treating ADHD and OCD with antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. Police had responded to mental health-related calls several times previously, including multiple cases of hospitalization under the province's Mental Health Act. In 2023, she spent weeks receiving treatment in Prince George. The police had last visited the home in spring 2025 regarding self-harm issues.

Investigation and Legal Proceedings

The RCMP investigation, led by superintendent Ken Floyd, involved over 100 personnel. Police initially believed Van Rootselaar acted alone and found no note or other communication from the shooter. They recovered a long gun and a modified rifle from the school during their initial evidence collection. The RCMP expected to have completed their investigation at the residence on the weekend of February 14, but noted that the forensic investigation at the secondary school would take 'much longer' due to the scale of the crime scene. On February 13, McDonald said that three firearms related to the shooting had been recovered: two at the perpetrator's home and two at the school. The 'main firearm believed to be the one that caused the most damage' at the school is of an unknown origin, having never been seized by the RCMP, as is the shotgun found at the residence. He stated that 'there was no specific targeting of ... any individuals' at the school. The perpetrator was 'for lack of a better term, hunting ... engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with,' according to the deputy commissioner's description of the attacker's motives during the school assault.

A critical aspect of the investigation involved digital evidence and artificial intelligence, specifically activity on the ChatGPT platform owned by OpenAI. In June 2025, OpenAI had banned a ChatGPT account belonging to Van Rootselaar due to violent queries and discussions about gun violence over the course of several days that were flagged by an automated review system. About a dozen OpenAI employees debated turning the chat logs over to law enforcement at that time, but company leadership, including CEO Sam Altman, overruled the recommendation, determining that her activity did not meet the criteria for reporting to law enforcement. This failure to report became the basis for multiple lawsuits filed by victims' families and the provincial government. On April 29, 2026, families of the victims filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. On September 2, thirty more lawsuits were filed on behalf of the victims. In September 2026, the province of British Columbia sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit stated that the shooter had used ChatGPT to plan the attack and that OpenAI's safety team had flagged her conversations in June 2025 and recommended contacting law enforcement, but company leadership overruled the recommendation.

Arrest of a Co-Conspirator

On the morning of October 6, 2026, the acting U.S. Attorney in Seattle announced that a 30-year-old man from Bellingham, Washington named James Cody Bryant had been arrested 'on a charge of conspiracy to murder in the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting,' and that the defendant would make an initial appearance in court that day. Prosecutors allege that he 'aided and encouraged Jesse Van Rootselaar by providing advice, money and agreeing to broadcast the attack.' The charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country is punishable by up to life in prison. The arrest followed a joint investigation by the RCMP and the FBI. According to the U.S. criminal complaint, Jesse Van Rootselaar and Bryant met on the random-pairing video chat app Omegle in 2023, and 'discussed preparation and co-ordination relating to the [Tumbler Ridge] shooting in Discord direct messages from November 2025 to Feb. 10, 2026.' Bryant allegedly 'tried to talk Van Rootselaar out of doing the attack. But ultimately, Bryant did not contact law enforcement and agreed to handle the livestreaming just minutes before the attack.' Homeland Security investigators interviewed Bryant two days after the shooting at his home in Bellingham. In early March, the FBI interviewed Bryant and learned the two had contact on and off through the years since meeting online about three years prior.

The criminal complaint details extensive planning. On August 8, about six months before the attack, Van Rootselaar detailed the most deadly shootings in Canadian history and talked about how she could 'steal that title.' Court documents show Bryant responded with advice on how to kill more people. Around August 11, Bryant told Van Rootselaar they should 'find a way to delete' their messages. On August 30, 2025, Bryant helped Van Rootselaar test the quality of a livestream, saying it 'looks solid,' with a test run conducted on January 4, 2026. Over the course of several months, the pair discussed weapons, stickers to decorate the weapons, shoes to wear on the day of the attack and money Bryant was providing for those items. Bryant messaged on January 25, 'need to figure out smoe way to get you money I wanna make sure you get your stuff. Literally giving you access to my card.'

Bryant sent Van Rootselaar about $125 on Nov. 21 for a pair of shoes she wanted to wear during the attack, according to the documents, and another $14 was sent on Jan. 25, two weeks before the attack, for a lighter intended for an explosive device. Van Rootselaar sent Bryant a photo of what the fully assembled explosive device would look like. A statement from the FBI in the documents said that device was deployed during the attack on Feb. 10, 2026. In the interview with FBI investigators, Bryant said Van Rootselaar talked about a target for a mass shooting and suggested a school, but said they told her it was a bad idea, 'because there would be too many young victims,' and instead suggested a church or grocery store. One message from August 2025 shows Van Rootselaar was considering an attack in another northern B.C. municipality, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John or Prince George, at either a mall or school. On October 13, 2026, Bryant was denied bail by a judge in Seattle. In her ruling, Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler described Bryant as having 'serious mental health concerns' and substance abuse problems. In court filings, prosecutors alleged that Bryant had sent a PayPal payment to Van Rootselaar 'to purchase a lighter to ignite an explosive device constructed for use in the attack.' They also alleged that one day before the attack, Van Rootselaar told Bryant that 'she didn't want to carry out the shooting if she didn't 'know for certain' someone would livestream it.'

Community and Political Reaction

The shooting devastated the small, close-knit community of Tumbler Ridge, a mining town with a population of 2,399 according to the 2021 census. Mayor Darryl Krakowka said, 'I will know every victim. I've been here 19 years, and we're a small community.' Councillor Chris Norbury described Tumbler Ridge as 'an incredibly safe community', stating that 'we don't have to worry about crime here.' A temporary memorial for victims was erected. Political leaders across Canada expressed condolences and solidarity with the grieving town. Those offering condolences included Prime Minister Mark Carney, Governor General Mary Simon, BC premier David Eby, Prince George, Peace River, Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer, and Peace River South MLA Larry Neufeld. Carney cancelled his imminent trip to the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Europe, and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast on federal buildings and Parliament Hill for seven days as a mark of respect. King Charles III of Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee also expressed their condolences. At the time of the shooting, the Canadian team was competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Immediately following the shootings, BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Nina Krieger declared that her office would 'deploy every resource' to support the investigation into the tragedy.

On February 12, two days after the shootings, the Prime Minister's Office stated that Carney intended to visit Tumbler Ridge in the coming days, and that an appropriate schedule was being arranged with local officials. Carney extended invitations to other federal party leaders to travel with him to the community on February 13. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, interim NDP leader Don Davies, and Green Party leader Elizabeth May confirmed that they would travel with the prime minister to attend. On February 13 while at a vigil, Eby promised families that students would not be forced to return to the high school. The Canadian Press reported that the superintendent of the Peace River South school district said that the 'expectation is that students will not be returning' to the secondary school. On February 16, the school announced that students would be returning to school in 'portable facilities' and will have trauma experts on site to provide support. United Nations secretary-general António Guterres expressed his deepest sympathies to those affected and his solidarity with the government and people of Canada.

The tragedy also sparked a wave of online misinformation. Both before and after the perpetrator was revealed to be transgender, unsubstantiated claims and misinformation about violence by transgender people were shared online. Numerous social media posts and news sources showed photos of a trans woman in Ontario who had the same last name as Van Rootselaar but had no involvement in the shooting. The Ontarian stated that her photos were incorrectly used as photos of the shooter, with her mother saying she became 'afraid to go outside' as a result.

Context and Broader Implications

The Tumbler Ridge shooting occurred within Canada's strict gun control framework, which was greatly reinforced with the passage of the Firearms Act in 1995 following the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal. After the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, such restrictions were further strengthened, with the sale, transport, importation or use of certain models of 'assault-style' firearms banned via an Order in Council, with the deadline for firearm disposal set at October 30, 2026. The Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is tasked with enforcing the act. The case raised questions about enforcement, particularly regarding the return of previously seized firearms to a household with a mentally distressed individual. The shooter's use of a minor's licence, which only allows borrowing firearms, highlighted challenges in monitoring access within a family and the potential gaps in existing control measures, especially when combined with a parent's valid firearms licence.

The incident thrust the role of technology companies in preventing violence into the legal and public spotlight. The lawsuits against OpenAI represent a novel legal frontier testing whether AI companies have a duty to report threats detected on their platforms. The extensive planning conducted on social media platforms like Discord and Omegle, coupled with the arrest of a U.S.-based co-conspirator, showed the borderless nature of online radicalization and conspiracy. The RCMP's collaboration with the FBI set a precedent for cross-border investigations into digitally coordinated crimes. The tragedy prompted a coroner's inquest to examine the roles of mental health, access to weapons, and artificial intelligence.

Questions about 2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting

What happened in the 2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting?

On February 10, 2026, a mass shooting occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their home. She then went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where she killed six people and injured 27 others before killing herself. The incident was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada since the Nova Scotia attacks in 2020 and the deadliest school shooting in Canada since the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989.

Who was Jesse Van Rootselaar?

Jesse Van Rootselaar was an 18-year-old trans woman and a former student of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School who had dropped out at age 14. She used her mother's last name, Strang, and had aliases including Jesse Jacobs and Jesse Strain. She had a documented interest in firearms and violent online content. She had a history of mental health issues and drug use, with police having responded to multiple mental health calls at her home prior to the attack.

Was anyone else charged in connection with the shooting?

Yes. On October 6, 2026, U.S. authorities arrested 30-year-old James Cody Bryant of Bellingham, Washington. He was charged with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country. Court documents allege he conspired with Van Rootselaar via Discord for months, offering advice, sending money for attack-related items, and agreeing to livestream the attack. He was denied bail on October 13, 2026.

How did the community and government respond?

The small community of Tumbler Ridge was deeply shaken. Political leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Carney and opposition party leaders, visited the town. Premier David Eby promised students would not have to return to the school building. Classes later resumed in portable facilities. Flags were flown at half-mast. The RCMP and FBI collaborated on a major cross-border investigation. A coroner's inquest was launched to investigate the roles of mental health, gun access, and AI.

How many people were killed and injured?

The attack resulted in nine total deaths, including the shooter. Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their home. At the school, she killed six people. Twenty-seven other people were injured, two with serious injuries.

What was the connection to ChatGPT and OpenAI?

The shooter had a ChatGPT account that was banned by OpenAI in June 2025 for making violent queries and discussing gun violence. An automated review system flagged her conversations. About a dozen OpenAI employees debated turning the chat logs over to law enforcement, but company leadership, including CEO Sam Altman, overruled the recommendation. This inaction led victims' families and the Province of British Columbia to file more than thirty lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging the company's failure to report the threats allowed the shooting to proceed.

Sources and further reading

• 2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting (Wikipedia)
• Disturbing new details of Tumbler Ridge shooting plans ... (cbc.ca)
• Unsealed documents reveal details of RCMP's response, ... (ici.radio-canada.ca)

Checked by the Nosy Mag desk. Last updated 2026-10-18.