In the frozen, isolated mountain town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia – a forgotten speck of 2,400 souls clinging to the edge of the Rockies – an 18-year-old transgender former student unleashed unimaginable hell on February 10, 2026.

Jesse Van Rootselaar, born biologically male but identifying as female for the past six years, stormed her old school after first executing her own mother and 11-year-old stepbrother in cold blood at home. Armed with at least two firearms – including a powerful rifle – the teen opened fire in the hallways and library of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, slaughtering five young students aged 12 and 13, plus a dedicated educator, before turning the gun on herself.

Eight innocents lay dead, another 27 wounded – some clinging to life in hospital – in what authorities call Canada’s deadliest school shooting since the 1989 Montreal massacre and its bloodiest mass shooting overall since the 2020 Nova Scotia rampage.

Now, as the grieving community lights candles and lays teddy bears outside the school gates, a horrifying portrait of the killer has emerged from her own digital trail of despair. Archived Reddit posts, YouTube videos, and social media scraps – unearthed and verified by major outlets including The New York Times, National Post, and others – paint Jesse Van Rootselaar as a deeply troubled young person spiraling into a vortex of severe mental illness, heavy drug abuse, and an all-consuming fixation on guns and violence.

This wasn’t a sudden snap. It was years in the making.

A Cocktail of Psychedelics and Psychiatric Meds – ‘I Don’t Want to Die’

As far back as 2023, Van Rootselaar was openly posting on Reddit about experimenting with some of the most potent hallucinogens known to man.

In one chilling November 2023 thread on a psychedelics forum, the then-teen asked: “Yo what’s the danger in using 5-MeO-DMT alone?” – referring to the infamous “toad venom” substance, often called the “Mount Everest of psychedelics” for its intense, ego-dissolving trips that can last mere minutes but feel eternal.

“I use N,N-DMT regularly and it seems completely safe to me,” Van Rootselaar wrote casually, admitting to frequent use while claiming ignorance of risks. “Really don’t know, don’t want to die.”

Other posts detailed a heavy regimen of psychiatric medications mixed with street drugs: high doses of Sertraline (Zoloft) at 280mg – an SSRI antidepressant – plus occasional 2mg Risperidone (an antipsychotic) to sleep, and “quite a bit” of cannabis.

Diagnoses poured out in raw confessions: ADHD, OCD, major depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. One post described a “complete mental breakdown” after a moderate dose of psychedelic mushrooms, leaving the user in a dissociated haze.

In October 2023, Van Rootselaar admitted to “burning down my house for the second time” while high on mushrooms – a cryptic, terrifying claim that hinted at self-destructive chaos.

By April 2024, paranoia crept in: asking if drug traces could be detected in urine from addicts, referencing song lyrics as if testing the waters for evasion.

Police confirmed multiple welfare checks and mental health apprehensions at the family home – guns were seized at one point, only to be returned after a legal challenge. How the weapons ended up back in Van Rootselaar’s hands remains under fierce scrutiny in a country with some of the world’s strictest gun controls.

Guns Glorified: Desert Eagle Videos, SKS Rifles, and Firing Range Brags

Alongside the drug haze ran an obsessive love affair with firearms.

Van Rootselaar proudly shared videos and photos of shooting sessions: blasting away with a gold-plated Desert Eagle handgun at a range, captioning one post “We blew up our Desert Eagle!” with gleeful emojis.

Another favorite: a Chinese Norinco SKS semi-automatic rifle – the same model later linked to the massacre. Posts on gun forums showed off the collection, discussing calibers, modifications, and hunting exploits.

YouTube channels tied to the suspect featured content on firearms, self-reliance, and “stuff she likes to do” – including range days that friends once encouraged others to subscribe to.

Disturbingly, reports suggest Van Rootselaar frequented dark corners of the web like WatchPeopleDie, where users share graphic videos of real violence and sometimes glorify mass shooters and killers.

One account allegedly posted images of the SKS rifle alongside nihilistic commentary – a digital breadcrumb trail leading straight to the library where the final shots rang out.

From Dropout to Killer: A Life Unraveling in Plain Sight

Van Rootselaar had dropped out of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School about four years earlier – the very building she would later turn into a slaughterhouse.

Police described her as known to authorities for repeated mental health crises and self-harm concerns. The father, Justin Van Rootselaar, issued a gut-wrenching statement: “As the biological father of the individual responsible, I carry a sorrow that is difficult to put into words.”

The killer’s mother, Jennifer Jacobs (also known as Jennifer Strang), 39, and stepbrother Emmett Jacobs, 11, were found dead at the family home – the first victims in what investigators say was a premeditated rampage.

Then came the school: five children – three girls and two boys between 12 and 13 – plus one adult education assistant gunned down in seconds of terror.

Survivors’ accounts are heartbreaking: barricaded classrooms, blood-soaked halls, whispered prayers as armed officers finally cleared the building.

In this tiny, tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone, the betrayal cuts deepest. “How could someone we watched grow up do this?” one local asked through tears at a vigil.

Questions Canada Can’t Ignore

As autopsies wrap up and forensics comb the scenes, the nation grapples with uncomfortable truths.

British Columbia has one of Canada’s highest rates of gun ownership – around 16% of residents report owning at least one firearm.

Yet strict licensing, background checks, and red-flag laws failed to stop this tragedy. Guns were returned despite red flags. Mental health supports in remote areas remain woefully inadequate, as the town’s mayor admitted.

Prime Minister Mark Carney called it a “dark hour” for Canada, vowing solidarity. But for the families of the slain – children who should have been safe in class – words feel hollow.

Jesse Van Rootselaar’s online cries for help echoed for years: drugs to escape, guns for power, darkness for company.

No one listened hard enough.

Now, in the shadow of the Rockies, a town mourns eight lives stolen – and wonders what other warning signs lurk in the silence.