By The Canadian Press

Students in Tumbler Ridge begin returning to class following mass shooting

Feb 26, 2026 | 10:07 AM

TUMBLER RIDGE — Some students are heading back to classes in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., just over two weeks after an 18-year-old shooter killed eight people, including six at the local secondary school, before turning the gun on herself.

A message to parents posted on the Peace River South school district website says elementary students are returning to classes with shortened days today and tomorrow, with their regular schedules set to resume on Monday.

The district says portables set up on the elementary school grounds will open for secondary students and their families to visit today, and those students may attend class for one course on Friday.

It says the “tentative plan” for next week will be for secondary students to go to school from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but “this may change based on needs.”

The district says a security company has been contracted to maintain a perimeter around the Tumbler Ridge Elementary campus, while RCMP have conducted a security review of the area and a camera system is to be installed.

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The message says the two doors on each portable will be locked at all times and the elementary school doors will also be locked throughout the day.

Two “safer school liaison” staff will be at the site until the spring break, along with a district counselling team, says the message posted online on Wednesday.

Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed her mother and half-brother at their home in Tumbler Ridge on Feb. 10, before going to the secondary school and killing five students and an educational assistant, then taking her own life.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2026.

The Canadian Press