What we covered here

• Canada’s deadliest school shooting in decades: A shooter killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more at a high school in the tiny Canadian mountain town of Tumbler Ridge on Tuesday.

• Suspect identified: The suspect is an 18-year-old woman who had dropped out of the school about four years ago, police said. She was born biologically male and transitioned about six years ago, police said. Officers had visited her residence several times due to mental health concerns.

• Most of the victims were children: Five students between 12 and 13 years old, as well as the 11-year-old stepbrother of the suspect, were killed in the shooting. The wounded include a 12-year-old girl who is fighting for her life in hospital.

12-year-old shooting victim remembered by her father as a “beautiful soul”

From CNN’s Chris Lau

Kylie Smith

Kylie Smith
Gofundme

The father of 12-year-old Kylie Smith has confirmed she was among those killed in the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday.

Lance Younge told Canadian network CTV his daughter was a “beautiful soul” and urged other parents to tell their kids “you love them every day.”

“(Kylie was) a light in our family. She loved art and anime. She wanted to go to school in Toronto, and we just loved her so much,” Younge said. “She was thriving in high school. She never hurt a soul.”

Younge recalled sending Kylie and her 15-year-old brother Ethan to school that morning. “I didn’t know it would be the last time they would go to school together,” he told CTV.

Kylie’s brother Ethan survived the shooting after hiding in a utility room, their stepmother Jennifer Geary told CTV.

“Hold your kids tight, tell them you love them every day. You never know, you never know,” Younge told CTV, sobbing.

How strict are Canada’s gun laws?

From CNN’s Lex Harvey and Billy Stockwell

Hunting rifles are seen on display in a glass case at a gun and rifle store in downtown Vancouver, Canada, on September 15, 2010.

Hunting rifles are seen on display in a glass case at a gun and rifle store in downtown Vancouver, Canada, on September 15, 2010.
Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press/AP

Canada has much stricter gun laws than the United States, and school shootings of this scale are almost unheard of.

In 2023, 38% of homicides in Canada involved a firearm, while 76% of homicides in the US were firearm-related, according to an analysis by Canada’s national statistics body using police-reported data from the Uniform Crime Reporting programs in both countries.

Canadian law requires citizens to undergo robust background checks before obtaining a gun license. Gun laws were expanded in 2022.

In Canada, there are an estimated 35 guns per 100 residents compared to 121 firearms for every 100 residents in the US, according to a 2018 Small Arms Research project report.

In British Columbia, where the shooting occurred, there are 368,433 firearms licences issued, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s 2024 Firearms Report. This is higher than most other provinces or territories.