Police had repeatedly visited Rootselaar, 18, the Canadian school shooter, at his home due to concerns about his mental health and weapons.
Dwayne McDonald, deputy director of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said on February 12 that they are in the “early stages” of investigating the motives of 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, the gunman who opened fire at Tumbler Ridge High School in the town of the same name on February 10, killing six people and injuring 25 others.
Rootselaar committed suicide after the shooting at the school. Police later searched the suspect’s home and discovered that Rootselaar’s mother and half-brother had also been shot dead. Police acknowledged that Rootselaar had been under surveillance by authorities beforehand.
“We’ve been to that house several times over the past few years to address mental health concerns related to the suspect,” McDonald said.
Images from Jesse Van Rootselaar’s YouTube channel show him being exposed to guns as a child. Photo: Global News
He added that the suspect had previously been taken to see a doctor for evaluation and monitoring under Canadian mental health laws. Police had also worked with the suspect and his family on at least one occasion regarding weapons several years prior.
“The gun was seized under criminal law. Later, the legal owner submitted a request to reclaim the gun, which was granted,” McDonald said.
Rootselaar had a license to own a rifle and a handgun, but those expired in 2024, and no firearms are registered under his name.
Mr. McDonald said Jesse “was born biologically male,” began transitioning to female about six years ago, and has since identified herself as female in her personal life and social relationships.
Social media posts showed Rootselaar’s family was very close, often celebrating birthdays together, and the mother often indulged her children’s wishes. In 2021, the suspect’s mother shared a link to Rootselaar’s YouTube channel with content related to hunting, survival skills, and firearms. Court documents from 2015 show that the suspect’s mother and children had “lived a near-nomadic life,” moving several times throughout Canada in the five years prior.
However, social media activity suggests Rootselaar was “a young person exhibiting severe psychotic symptoms, with a long-standing obsession with weapons and psychedelics” for many years.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, the suspect in the Canadian school shooting. Photo: RCMP
In a Reddit forum post from November 2023, Rootselaar asked about the risks of using 5-MeO-DMT alone, referring to the extremely potent hallucinogen extracted from the skin glands of certain toad species, known as “the Everest of psychedelics”.
Rootselaar also shared that he is currently taking psychiatric medication and has been previously diagnosed with major depression, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
In another post, this person said they had to smoke marijuana and use some medication to sleep, and had just experienced an acute psychotic episode after using a moderate dose of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Rootselaar also recounted losing control of reality, causing a house fire, and subsequently being hospitalized for psychiatric reasons after taking two consecutive doses of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Other posts showed him boasting about his weapon collection, particularly an SKS semi-automatic rifle.
Following the attack that shocked all of Canada, many questions were raised about why police would return a gun to someone who had previously undergone a mental health screening. British Columbia Premier David Eby also shared this concern and urged local police to clarify the situation.
According to former RCMP officer Sherry Benson-Podolchuk, Canada needs to change its laws to allow police to confiscate guns from citizens if they find them during mental health screenings. Canadians have a relatively high rate of gun ownership, but the country has stricter gun control regulations than the United States
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