The grieving parents of a 12-year-old girl murdered in a Canadian school shooting have revealed they learned of their daughter's tragic death from another student, after enduring nine agonizing hours without any information from police authorities.
Horrific School Shooting Claims Multiple Lives
On Tuesday afternoon, transgender gunman Jesse Van Rootselaar, aged 18, opened fire inside the library at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia. The violent attack resulted in the deaths of five students and one teacher, with Van Rootselaar subsequently taking his own life at the educational institution.
Prior to the school massacre, the shooter had murdered his mother, Jennifer, and his 11-year-old stepbrother, Emmett, at their family residence, according to reports from CTV News.
Parents' Heartbreaking Account of Notification Failure
Lance Younge and Jenny Geary, the father and stepmother of victim Kylie Smith, provided an emotional interview detailing how they received the devastating news about their daughter's death. The information came from another child who had performed CPR on Kylie for forty-five minutes during the chaotic incident.
'I walked around our recreation center for approximately six hours searching desperately for my child, and police officers refused to provide me with any information whatsoever,' explained Younge through tears during his conversation with CTV journalists.
The distraught father further described returning home, where the student eventually arrived nine hours after the shooting to deliver the tragic confirmation about their daughter's fate.
'The police authorities did not communicate anything to us,' Younge emphasized. 'We had to discover the truth through community members, children, and rumors circulating among bystanders. We found ourselves counting victims because we watched news broadcasts reporting body counts while receiving no official notification - we performed calculations and mathematical deductions trying to determine whether our child had been airlifted by helicopter or whether our child had perished.'
Kylie's stepmother added that the prolonged wait for official communication from authorities was unbearably lengthy and traumatic for the family.
Additional Victims and Critical Injuries
Two other twelve-year-old girls, Maya Gebala and Paige Hoekstra, remain hospitalized in critical condition following the violent attack. The massacre resulted in injuries to twenty-five individuals in total, creating widespread trauma throughout the small community.
Remembering Kylie Smith
Kylie Smith, described by her father as a beautiful soul who cherished art and anime, had aspirations to attend school in Toronto and served as the radiant light within her family unit. An online fundraising campaign portrays Smith as a 'beautiful, kind, innocent soul' whose life ended tragically and prematurely.
Investigation into Shooter's Background and Motives
Significant questions persist regarding what potentially motivated Van Rootselaar to commit this heinous crime. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police disclosed that firearms had previously been confiscated from the teenager's residence but were subsequently returned to the lawful owner.
The eighteen-year-old shooter, known locally as Jesse Strang, was a biological male who began identifying as female from age twelve and experienced multiple mental health challenges that prompted police visits to his home, according to law enforcement statements.
Van Rootselaar had ceased attending school four years earlier at age fourteen and required apprehension for assessment under Canada's mental health legislation on at least one occasion.
'Police officers previously attended that residence approximately two years ago, where firearms were seized under provisions of the Criminal Code,' explained Dwayne McDonald, Deputy Commissioner of the British Columbia RCMP. 'I can confirm that at a later point, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned successfully for their return, and authorities complied with that request.'
Jennifer Van Rootselaar, the shooter's mother, did not possess a valid firearms license at the time of her death. Individuals familiar with the gunman described him as a 'quiet kid' frequently observed 'sitting alone in corners.'
Family's Plea to Focus on Victims
Lance Younge has appealed to the public to concentrate attention on the victims rather than the perpetrator of the violence. 'Let us cease providing this psychopath with recognition, because these children were lost before they could even become teenagers,' Younge pleaded during his CTV interview. 'Let us display their photographs, remember them honorably, and not memorialize this murderer.'
Final Moments and Community Impact
The devastated father recounted receiving communication from Smith's fifteen-year-old brother, Ethan, only when Van Rootselaar initiated shooting at the school on Tuesday afternoon. Ethan had concealed himself inside a utility closet around 3:00 PM local time and wanted to express love for his family members.
Younge remained unaware of Kylie's whereabouts during this terrifying period. The last time he saw his daughter was when she entered school alongside her brother that morning. 'I absorbed that moment watching them walk through the doorway together, for reasons I cannot explain,' he remembered emotionally. 'I did not realize it would represent our final interaction.'
Tumbler Ridge Secondary School enrolls fewer than 175 students, and Younge noted that his family knows all victims personally. 'They represent amazing children,' he stated. 'All these families know each other intimately, having grown up together within this close-knit community.'
The heartbroken father offered poignant advice to other parents: 'Hold your children tightly, express your love for them daily. You can never predict what might happen, you simply never know.'
Community Support and Memorial
As the family struggles to process this profound tragedy, they have initiated fundraising efforts to cover funeral expenses and associated travel costs. Kylie's mother had recently relocated to Vancouver Island after residing in Tumbler Ridge for nearly twelve years.
'She has not seen her daughter in several months, and her son, Kylie's brother, who just returned north from Vancouver Island, will require his mother's support more than ever during this devastating period,' wrote Kylie's aunt, Sharon Dycke.
'Kylie's father and stepmother are currently caring for her brother and stepbrother, and their entire world, our collective world, has completely crumbled,' she added.
The GoFundMe campaign has already surpassed $20,000 in donations for the grieving family. Dycke concluded her message by stating: 'My heart aches profoundly for the other affected families and for the loss of their precious children. I extend my deepest sympathies. To families with children still hospitalized, continue fighting courageously. We send our prayers and support.'
Tumbler Ridge community members gathered for a vigil on Wednesday to honor and remember all victims of this horrific school shooting tragedy.
