The Tumbler Ridge mass shooter has been identified as 18-year-old Jesse Strang
The deranged “gunman” in a “dress” who killed nine people in British Columbia, including six victims at a local high school, has been identified as 18-year-old Jesse Strang.
The horrific attack, one of the deadliest shootings in Canadian history, began Tuesday at a home in the quiet rural community of Tumbler Ridge in Western Province and ended at Tumbler Ridge High School, where authorities say Strang died from his self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Strang was identified Wednesday as the shooter By Canadian broadcaster CTV News.
An initial alert issued about an active shooter at the school Tuesday afternoon described the shooter as a “female wearing a dress.”
The police chief later described the shooter as “armed” in a press conference. The Telegraph reported – sparking speculation that they may have been transgender.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not confirmed Strang’s identity or whether he is transgender.
The police said that six people were found dead inside the school, and the bodies of two others were discovered in a residence “believed to be related to the incident.”
It was not immediately known what Strang’s relationship with the school, the individuals at the home, or how he gained access to the building during school hours.
About 25 others were injured in the shooting, some of them seriously, but most of them are receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital.
RCMP in Tumbler Ridge responded to reports of a shooting around 1:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
The school was placed on lockdown, and students and teachers barricaded themselves in classrooms for more than two hours before being escorted outside.
The RCMP’s public emergency alert was canceled at 5:45 p.m. local time when they believed there was no longer a threat to the public.
Only two shootings in Canadian history have resulted in more casualties.
The second deadliest act of violence in the country’s history was the Montreal massacre at the École Polytechnique in December 1989, in which 14 women were targeted and killed.
The horrific distinction of deadliest attack goes back to the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, where a 51-year-old maniac set fire to 16 locations and committed multiple shooting rampages across the province between April 18 and 19, killing 22 people.
