What We’re Getting Wrong about the Tumbler Ridge Shootings

Photo Illustration by Zoya Shepherd / Images by Christinne Muschi / Canadian Press

This story was originally published on thewalrus.ca

By Carmine Starnino and Tracy Vaillancourt

Reactions to mass shootings follow a grimly familiar script: stunned disbelief, public mourning, and a rush of conjecture and speculation. In Tumbler Ridge, a remote town of roughly 2,500 in northeastern British Columbia, that cycle began on February 10, 2026, after an attack in which police identified Jesse Van Rootselaar as the shooter. Authorities say the eighteen-year-old local resident killed her mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and her eleven-year-old half-brother at home before going to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where six people—students aged twelve and thirteen, as well as a thirty-nine-year-old educator—were fatally shot and two others critically injured. Another twenty-five were reportedly taken to a local medical centre to be assessed. Van Rootselaar was found dead at the scene.

According to investigators, Van Rootselaar acted alone. She reportedly dropped out of school four years ago. Police say they have no information about whether she was bullied but confirmed they had attended the family home in relation to mental health concerns on more than one occasion. Firearms had previously been removed from her residence. The motive for the shooting remains unknown, and police maintain the weapons used were not registered to Van Rootselaar.

To move beyond instant conclusions, I spoke, by Zoom, with Tracy Vaillancourt, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Violence Prevention. A leading researcher on the neuroscience behind aggression, Vaillancourt argues for clearer thinking in our risk assessments of violence and a refusal of easy explanations that substitute stigma for understanding.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

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There’s always a general confusion that descends on these kinds of mass shootings. From your perspective, what are the things that frustrate you when these events are first being reported?

It makes sense that we often get it wrong at the beginning. Reporters are racing to get the story out and to inform the public, especially when there are safety concerns. But that same push means people can get hurt. In this case, the wrong person was initially outed as being involved in the shooting. That mistake won’t simply disappear—it’s now