🎊🎊Please Pray for My Baby”: Mother of 12-Year-Old Shooting Victim Pleads for a Miracle
In the frozen heart of British Columbia’s remote Tumbler Ridge, a tiny mountain town of just 2,400 souls, unimaginable horror unfolded on February 10, 2026, when an 18-year-old former student turned the local high school into a scene of carnage that has shaken Canada to its core.
Eight lives were brutally cut short—including five students, one educator, and two family members of the shooter—in what authorities are calling one of the deadliest school shootings in Canadian history. Dozens more were wounded, airlifted to hospitals in a desperate race against time.
But amid the grief and shock gripping this close-knit community nestled in the foothills of the Rockies, one heartbreaking plea has captured the nation’s attention: a desperate mother’s cry for prayers as her brave 12-year-old daughter fights for her life in intensive care.
Maya Gebala, a bright-eyed Grade 7 student described by loved ones as outgoing, selfless, and full of life—especially her passion for ice hockey—was shot multiple times in the head and neck while heroically trying to protect her classmates.
According to family accounts and police reports, chaos erupted in the school library as the shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, opened fire. Maya and her friends desperately attempted to barricade the door, slamming it shut and fumbling with the lock in a frantic bid to keep the gunman out.
It was too late.
The attacker fired through the door. One bullet grazed Maya’s cheek and ear. Two more struck her head and neck with devastating force. She collapsed amid the screams and terror, her young body crumpling as classmates and teachers scrambled for safety.
Air-lifted to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Maya underwent emergency brain surgery and remains in a medically induced coma in the ICU. Doctors have warned her parents, Cia Edmonds and David Gebala, that the brain damage is severe—potentially catastrophic.
“We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and that she wouldn’t make it through the night,” Cia Edmonds wrote from her daughter’s bedside in an emotional social media post that has gone viral, tugging at heartstrings across the country and beyond.
“I never thought I’d be asking for prayers,” the devastated mother continued. “But please, please pray for my baby. She needs a miracle.”
The image of little Maya in her hospital bed—tubes snaking across her tiny frame, a neck brace supporting her head, eyes closed in induced sleep—has become a symbol of the tragedy’s raw human cost. Her mother lies beside her, head resting on the bed, exhaustion and love etched on her face.
Maya’s family clings to every small sign of hope: faint movements in her limbs, stable vital signs, the sheer will of a child who tried to save others before herself.
“She’s still fighting,” her parents told reporters in a tearful interview, their voices breaking. “We feel her strength. She’s a fighter.”
The shooter, an 18-year-old local who had dropped out of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School years earlier, first killed her mother and half-brother at home before heading to the school. Police say she acted alone, using two firearms in what investigators describe as a targeted yet random “hunting” rampage—no specific victims singled out, but pure devastation nonetheless. She died by suicide at the scene.
The victims’ names have been released in heartbreaking tributes: young students like Abel Mwansa, Ezekiel Schofield, Ticaria Lampert, and others whose smiling school photos now flood social media alongside candles and teddy bears left at makeshift memorials.
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Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, usually a place of laughter and learning against a stunning backdrop of snow-capped peaks and pine forests, now stands silent and cordoned off as forensic teams comb the building. Snow blankets the grounds where flowers, stuffed animals, and handwritten notes pile up in silent vigil.
The community has rallied in ways that only small towns can. Candlelight vigils lit up the night, with hundreds gathering in the cold, holding hands and sharing tears. Prime Minister Mark Carney joined opposition leaders in a show of unity, walking arm-in-arm through the grieving crowd.
Yet for Maya’s family, the focus remains laser-sharp on one thing: their daughter’s survival.
Cia Edmonds has expressed astonishing compassion even amid her pain, saying she feels for the shooter’s mother—who was also killed—and urging the nation to come together in support of Tumbler Ridge.
“Please pray for healing, strength, and comfort over her and our family during this unimaginable time,” she pleaded. “We hope all the injured children and adults survive.”
Medical experts emphasize the gravity: Gunshot wounds to the head and neck rank among the most life-threatening traumas, often involving massive brain swelling, neurological devastation, and long, uncertain roads to recovery—if survival is possible at all.
But Maya’s story has ignited a wave of support. GoFundMe pages have raised thousands for her care and family expenses. Messages pour in from strangers: “Praying for Maya the hero,” “This brave girl deserves every miracle,” “Canada is with you.”
In a country where school shootings are mercifully rare—thanks to strict gun laws—this attack has reopened painful debates about mental health, access to firearms (even restricted ones), and how to protect the vulnerable.
For now, though, politics fade into the background. What matters is a 12-year-old girl clinging to life, a mother refusing to give up hope, and a community refusing to let darkness win.
As the sun sets over the Rockies, candles flicker outside the school, and prayers rise for Maya.
“Please pray for my baby,” her mother begs.
And thousands upon thousands are answering.
The fight continues—one breath, one prayer, one miracle at a time.