Carney and Poilievre joined in a rare gesture of political unity Friday evening in the devastated northern community of Tumbler Ridge, where hundreds gathered to mourn those killed in the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, according to the Associated Press. Outside the town hall, an Indigenous leader led a prayer, and officials including Carney and Poilievre spoke as families and residents observed the vigil with photos of loved ones.
Carney, joined by Poilievre, named the six people killed at the school. He said the mother and brother of the shooter, who were killed at the family’s home, also “deserve to be mourned,” and he told mourners that they were “living through something no one should ever have to endure.” He later added, “When you wake up tomorrow, and the world feels impossible, know that millions of Canadians are with you,” and said that even after cameras leave, “we will still be here.”
Carney also spoke about what responders did during the attack. He said first responders reached the school within two minutes and described teachers shielding their children.
Poilievre praised Carney’s remarks, commending him for his “tremendous grace.” The political leaders traveled from Ottawa together, with British Columbia’s provincial government represented by Premier David Eby.
Eby told the vigil that the students of the school would not be forced to return to the building. “I will promise that not one of you will ever be forced to go back to that school,” he said, adding that the province would provide a “safe place” for those students to continue attending school if they chose not to return.
Authorities identified the six people killed at the school as Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit and Ticaria Lampert, all 12, along with 13-year-old Ezekiel Schofield and assistant teacher Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39. In addition, AP reported that two wounded survivors—Maya Gebala, 12, and Paige Hoekstra, 19—remained hospitalized in Vancouver.
RCMP deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald described what investigators concluded about the suspect’s behavior once at the school. He said the alleged shooter did not appear to be searching for a specific target, describing the attack as “hunting,” and said the suspect was “prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with.”
McDonald also said police encountered a “chaotic” scene when they arrived, including fire alarms sounding and a person yelling from a window that the suspect was upstairs. He said officers entered the school, proceeded to the stairwell, and were met with gunfire; he added that more gunfire followed and that, as investigators reviewed video, they did not find evidence that the additional gunfire was directed at specific persons, with the suspect later killing herself.
McDonald said four guns were seized—two from the family home and two from the school—and he said that from the time the suspect encountered police there were no further injuries to students at the school. Investigators described the attack as Canada’s deadliest mass shooting since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.
School shootings are rare in Canada, which has strict gun-control laws. The AP report said the government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun-control measures, including a recently broadened ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.