Canadian police have confirmed a school shooter who killed eight people in a gun rampage claimed to be “transgender”, but insisted on calling him a female and respecting his pronouns.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, shot dead his mother Jennifer Strang, 39, and stepbrother, 11, before killing a teacher and five students at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in the small British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge at about 2.20pm local time on Tuesday. He then turned the gun on himself.
The victims include three 12-year-old girls, 12-year-old and 13-year-old boys, and a 39-year-old teacher. Van Rootselaar’s mother and stepbrother were killed in the family home before the school shooting. Another 25 people were taken to hospital after the shooting.
Canadian police insist on respecting the “gender identity” and pronouns of male mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar, after he killed eight people in Tumbler Ridge, because he claimed to be “transgender”.
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“The suspect is identified as an 18-year-old female by the name of Jesse,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said on Wednesday, local time.
“We have a history of police attendance at the family residence, some of those calls were related to mental health issues. On different occasions the suspect was apprehended for assessment and follow-up.
“We identify the suspect as they chose to be identified as they chose to be identified in public and social media. I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female, and identified as female both socially and publicly.”
McDonald made the statement and continued to call the shooter “she” and “her” even though is not possible for a person to “transition” from one sex to another, and Canadian corporate and state media outlets are still using the same language.
The RCMP initially described the shooter as a “female in a dress with brown hair”, but locals told Western Standard Van Rootselaar claimed to be “transgender” and had been a “quiet kid”.
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I’ve obtained exclusive footage captured by locals in Tumbler Ridge.
Truly harrowing scenes…
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“As part of the initial response to the active shooting, police entered the school to locate the threat,” the RCMP said.
“During the search, officers located multiple victims. An individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self‑inflicted injury.
“Six additional individuals, not including the suspect, have been located deceased inside the school. A third victim died while being transported to hospital.”
Tumbler Ridge Secondary School students Liam Irving and Juan van Heerden said they grew up with Strang, who was a couple of years younger than them, in the small town of about 2,400 people.
“He was a chill kid, he was alright, but he definitely gave off that, you know, quiet one out kind of kid … Like, he wasn’t, you know, destructive or obnoxious,” Irvin said.
“My mom was pretty good friends with the mother, Jennifer, and my little brother, who’s also on the spectrum, was pretty close to Emmett, the younger boy.
“There’s not one person in this town right now that’s not affected by this.”
“We always seen [Strang] by himself … sitting by himself in the corner, always quiet,” van Heerden said.
People claiming to be “transgender” have also been responsible for several recent mass shootings in the US, including a church attack in Minneapolis in 2025, and a school massacre in Nashville in 2023 that was not confirmed to be “trans”-related by authorities until last year.
Header image: Left, the shooter (Facebook). Right, a “pride” flag seen in a school window (Western Standard).
The post Canadian police call ‘trans’ male school shooter a woman and respect his pronouns first appeared on The Noticer.
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