A mass shooting in a remote Canadian town on Tuesday left 10 people, including the suspected attacker, dead, shocking a country where such acts of violence are extremely rare.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said he was “devastated” by the attack, which took place in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. “My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence,” he said in a social media post. Mr. Carney postponed plans to travel to the Munich Security Conference in Germany, which begins on Friday.
Here is what we know about the attack and how the authorities have responded to previous mass shootings.
How many people died?
Seven people, including the suspected shooter, who appeared to have died from a self-inflicted injury, were found dead at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Another person died while being transported from the school to the hospital.
Two more people were found dead at a residence in the town in a shooting that police believe was connected to the attack at the school.
A further 25 people were injured, the police added.
Students and teachers hid for hours inside the school during the attack.
What do we know about the shooter and the victims?
The police have not disclosed the identity of the suspected shooter, details about the firearms that were used or how they might have been obtained.
Superintendent Ken Floyd of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a news briefing that the person believed to be behind the attack, who was found at the school, was the same person mentioned in a stay-in-place police alert that was issued at about 1:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The alert described the person as a “female in a dress with brown hair.”
The police have not identified the names or ages of those who were killed, citing privacy and the need to notify their families.
The stay-in-place alert was lifted at 5:45 p.m.
How does this compare with other mass shootings?
The attack in Tumbler Ridge was the third-deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history. In 2020, Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people in the eastern province of Nova Scotia.
In 1989, Marc Lépine shot 14 women dead in a misogynistic attack on an engineering class at a university in Montreal, Quebec.
How have the authorities responded to previous attacks?
After the 2020 massacre, the federal government unveiled a sweeping plan to overhaul gun laws. The measures included a ban on 1,500 types of assault-style weapons that was later widened to include other firearms and a freeze on the sale of handguns.
The government also instituted a gun buyback program that has proved controversial and logistically difficult to implement. Critics and opposition politicians say the measures punish law-abiding gun owners and will not make Canada safer. Some provinces have said they would not participate in the program.
There are about 1.3 million registered firearms in Canada, according to official data.
Where is Tumbler Ridge?
Tumbler Ridge is roughly 730 miles northeast of Vancouver in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, near the border with Alberta. The close-knit community, which has a population of about 2,400, was originally a coal-mining hub but now pitches itself as a hub for outdoor tourism. The shooting has devastated the town.
“I will know every victim,” Mayor Darryl Krakowka told the CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, after sheltering in the town hall.
“We’re a small community,” he said. “I don’t call them residents. I call them family.”
Ravi Mattu is the managing editor of DealBook, based in London. He joined The New York Times in 2022 from the Financial Times, where he held a number of senior roles in Hong Kong and London.
The post What We Know About the Deadly Mass Shooting in Canada appeared first on New York Times.
