High school students barricaded classroom doors with tables and chairs for at least two hours while an alleged female shooter went about her rampage in a massacre that’s turning out to be Canada’s deadliest school shooting in nearly 40 years.
Darian Quist, a 12th grader, was in his mechanics class Tuesday afternoon when Tumbler Ridge Secondary School students in remote northeastern British Columbia were plunged into lockdown.
“For a while, I didn’t think anything was going on,” he told CBC. “I thought it was just like maybe a ‘Secure and hold’ but once everything starts circulating, we kind of realized something was wrong.”
Quist, his classmates and his teacher, were all in the classroom – where they stayed for between two and two-and-a-half hours — before being escorted out by cops. He did not hear the shooter go about their rampage.
The students were “very nervous” and Quist described the atmosphere as “tense,” but they tried to keep each other motivated. During the lockdown, he was sent grisly material on his cell phone.
“Once people sent me some photos, it definitely set in what was actually happening,” he said.
“They [the photos] were disturbing, just showing blood and things like that. That’s when it all really set in.”
There were 14 to 15 people in the classroom and Quist’s teacher helped organize students, shove tables against doors, and create an escape plan.
“The police came through the door, yelling ‘hands up, hands up’ things like that and we were all escorted out of the classroom keeping our hands up the entire time,” he said.
While he was being ushered out of the building, cops were stationed throughout the school, making sure there was no threat.
Footage, obtained by Western Standard, shows students with their arms raised as they walk out of the school building.
Cops rushed to the school within two minutes of receiving the call, according to David Eby, the British Columbia Premier.
Six people, including the suspected shooter, were found dead inside the school building. Two people were found dead at a home authorities believe was linked to the attack.
Another person died while being rushed to the hospital. Twenty-five people were injured.
Authorities have not released a plethora of details about the shooter. The shooter is said to be a female, wearing a dress.
They died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but Ken Floyd, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Supt., has not revealed the shooter’s motive, the Guardian reported.
“We’re following all leads to try to determine the connection to the shooter,” Floyd said, according to the outlet. “I think we will struggle to determine the ‘why’, but we will try our best to determine what transpired.”
Authorities have been left reeling by what unfolded. Darryl Krakowka, the Tumbler Ridge mayor, said he “broke down” when he learned about the horror.
“It’s devastating,” he told reporters. “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”
The shooting, which happened in the town that has a population of around 2,400 people, is Canada’s deadliest since 2020 when a shooter gunned down 13 people in Nova Scotia and set fires that also killed nine others.
It’s Canada’s deadliest school shooting in 37 years. In 1989, 14 students were killed at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique school in 1989.
Around 160 students between the ages of 12 and 18 are enrolled at Tumbler Ridge Secondary school, according to its website.
The school has been closed for the rest of the week.
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