The father of the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooter has issued a statement following the deadly mass shooting that rocked the small community this week.
“There are moments when words feel far too small for the sorrow we are carrying together. What has happened has left an ache in the heart of our town that will not soon fade. In a place where we know each other by name, where we pass one another in the grocery store and gather at the same community events, this loss feels deeply personal to us all,” Justin VanRootselaar said.
“To the families who have lost loved ones, and to every person who has been affected by this senseless and unforgivable act of violence, I offer my most heartfelt condolences. I cannot begin to imagine the depth of your grief. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers, and that I share in the profound sadness that has settled over our community.
“As the biological father of the individual responsible, I carry a sorrow that is difficult to put into words. I was estranged from Jesse Strang and was not part of his life. His mother declined my involvement from the beginning, and I was not given the opportunity to be a part of raising him. Jesse did not use the VanRootselaar family name at any point in his life. While that distance is the reality of our relationship, it does not lessen the heartbreak I feel for the pain that has been caused to innocent people and to the town we call home.
“This is a time for compassion, for holding one another close, and for supporting the families who are grieving such unimaginable loss.
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“As we respect your grief, we respectfully ask that you also respect ours. There will be no further statements.”
This statement comes as more information is coming to light about the 18-year-old shooter.
BC RCMP confirmed that multiple police visits had been made to the 18-year-old Jesse VanRootselaar’s home due to concerns of mental health and self-harm.
Dept. Comm. Dwayne McDonald, BC RCMP commanding officer, said the teen also had some interactions with police.
“Police have attended that residence in the past, approximately a couple of years ago, where firearms were seized under the criminal code,” he said.
“I can say that at a later point in time, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for those firearms to be returned and they were.”
It is not known who owned the guns, why they were seized and why they were returned.
Criminal lawyer Jerry Steele said that Canada’s new Red Flag law, passed in 2023, allows anyone, not just police, to apply to a judge for a temporary 30-day prohibition order to remove firearms from someone who poses a risk.
“The idea that someone else in a house could be the problem rather than the firearms owner themselves, that concern is relatively new and I haven’t seen that tested,” Steele said.
On Friday, McDonald said their investigation has prioritized two firearms that were located at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School following the shooting.
He said two firearms were found at the school and two were found at VanRootselaar’s home.
McDonald said the four firearms were connected with the shooting at the home, where VanRootselaar’s mother and stepbrother were killed, and then the shooting at the school where five students and an education assistant were killed.
“The main firearm, believed to be the one that caused the most significant damage, its origins are unknown,” said McDonald.
“It’s never been in previous RCMP control. Never been seized by us. We’re trying to determine how our suspect got that firearm. And that investigation is continuing of the firearms and the residence. The shotgun is an unregistered weapon, and has never been previously seized by us.”
VanRootselaar, who was assigned male at birth but had started transitioning to a female, dropped out of school roughly four years ago, Global News has learned.
The teen had a gun licence, which expired in 2024. A long gun and a modified handgun were found at the crime scene in Tumbler Ridge following the shooting on Feb. 10.
It is unknown if these were the guns that were seized from the family home and returned.
— With files from Rumina Daya
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