Devasting violence shatters small town

Within moments of receiving reports that there was a shooter nearby, Stacie Gruntman, the principle of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, did what educators are increasingly trained to do: she put the school in lockdown.

- Leyland Cecco

Gruntman rushed through the tiny school in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northern British Columbia, checking that classroom doors were secured.

Teachers shut off the lights and huddled with their students.

Darian Quist, a grade 12 student told CBC Radio that he and his classmates initially thought the lockdown was a drill. But then they began to receive "disturbing" photos from other parts of the school, and the fear set in.

"We got tables and barricaded the doors," he said. In the gymnasium, older students comforted younger children. Loud bangs echoed through the building.

In a town with only three police vehicles, officers arrived less than five minutes after the alarm was raised coming under fire as they did so, police later said.

Their quick response is credited with saving countless lives, but by then six people had already been killed at the school. More than two dozen people were injured. One victim lay in a stairwell; the rest were in a classroom.

The suspected shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaaer, 18, was also found dead. Her mother and a sibling believe to be a step-brother were later found dead at a nearby home.

Yesterday morning, both schools in the mountain village of Tumbler Ridge were closed and police tape blocked roads. Dozens of officers, flown in from other parts of the province, continued what will be a harrowing and emotionally turbulent investigation.