Daily Digest — Tumbler Ridge updates (2026-02-16)

Heartbreaking update: police say the Tumbler Ridge shootings left nine people dead (including the shooter) after 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother Jennifer Jacobs and 11-year-old half-brother Emmett, then shot five students (aged 12–13) and a teaching assistant at Tumbler Ridge Secondary before killing herself. RCMP have cleared both crime scenes, interviewed more than 80 people by Friday, are collecting video (school footage, CCTV, body-cam) and are probing the origins of an unregistered shotgun and a modified rifle; Van Rootselaar’s gun licence expired in 2024 and she had no weapons registered.

Heads-up: experts warn against online blame games — a rush to name suspects can destroy innocent lives. After the RCMP released the confirmed photo of Jesse Van Rootselaar, a woman in Ontario, Zylii Strang, was wrongly accused online; disinformation researchers Ahmed Al‑Rawi and Heidi Tworek say social media accelerates misidentification and hate, and community members (like Melissa Antoinette and teacher Mark Deeley) are urging people to stop sharing false images and targeting trans people.

What’s next: the school scene is cleared but students may not return right away. RCMP say the investigation at Tumbler Ridge Secondary is complete and the school was handed back to the district, yet Premier David Eby and superintendent Christy Fennell have said students will not be forced to return and the community is still deciding on next steps and supports.