Ten people including the shooter are dead after an assailant opened fire at a high school in western Canada on Tuesday in one of the country’s deadliest mass casualty events in recent history.

The outburst brought to Canada the type of mass shooting more common in the neighboring United States, and was carried out by a shooter described as female, police said.

Six people were found dead inside a high school in the town of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia, two more people were found dead at a residence believed to be connected to the incident, and another person died on the way to hospital, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

At least two other people were hospitalized with serious or life-threatening injuries, and as many as 25 people were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

A suspected shooter was also found dead from what appears to be a self‑inflicted injury, police said, adding they did not believe there were any more suspects or ongoing threat to the public.

“It’s hard to know what to say on a night like tonight. It’s the kind of thing that feels like it happens in other places and not close to home,” British Columbia Premier David Eby told reporters.

Police released almost no details about the shooter except to say the person was described afemale – potentially an unusual development as mass shootings in North America are almost always carried out by men.

Canada’s worst mass killing incidents

APRIL 2025: VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Eleven people were killed and dozens injured when a man with a history of mental health issues rammed an SUV through a crowd at a Filipino community festival.

SEPTEMBER 2022: WELDON, SASKATCHEWAN
A stabbing spree left 10 people dead and injured 18 others, spanning 13 sites across the two tiny communities of James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon in rural Saskatchewan.

APRIL 2020: PORTAPIQUE, NOVA SCOTIA
A gunman, who at one point masqueraded as a police officer, killed at least 16 people in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia during a 12-hour rampage, in the country’s worst modern-era mass shooting.

JULY 2018: TORONTO, ONTARIO
A man walked down a busy Toronto street, shooting randomly into restaurants. He killed two people and wounded 13 before turning his gun on himself.

JANUARY 2017: QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC
A man opened fire during evening prayers at a mosque, killing six people and wounding five. Twelve others were treated for minor injuries.

JANUARY 2016: LA LOCHE, SASKATCHEWAN
A student killed his two brothers at home before opening fire at a remote community high school, killing two more people and wounding seven others.

APRIL 2014: CALGARY, Alberta
The son of a long-serving member of Calgary’s police force was arrested after five people at a house party were stabbed to death.

DECEMBER 2014: EDMONTON, ALBERTA
A man killed eight people, including his wife, before killing himself.

JUNE 2014: MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
A gunman killed three Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers and wounded two others.

MARCH 2005: MAYERTHORPE, ALBERTA
A man killed four RCMP officers who went to his home to execute a warrant to repossess property. The man then killed himself.

APRIL 1999: OTTAWA, ONTARIO
A former employee of Ottawa’s urban transit service killed four of his colleagues and wounded two others before taking his own life.

APRIL 1996: VERNON, BRITISH COLUMBIA
A man killed nine relatives gathered for the wedding of his estranged wife’s sister and wounded two others before killing himself.

DECEMBER 1989: MONTREAL, QUEBEC
A gunman killed 14 students, all female, and wounded 13 at the Ecole Polytechnique before committing suicide.

A police active shooter alert said the suspect was described “as female in a dress with brown hair.” Police Superintendent Ken Floyd later confirmed at a news conference that the suspect described in the alert was the same person found dead in the school. Police did not say how many of the victims may have been minors.

“TIGHT-KNIT COMMUNITY”

Tumbler Ridge is a remote municipality with a population of around 2,400 people in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northern British Columbia, approximately 1,155 km (717 miles) northeast of Vancouver. Images of the town show a snow-covered landscape filled with pine trees.

Tumbler Ridge Secondary School has 160 students in grades seven through 12, roughly ages 12 to 18, according to its website. The school was closed for the rest of the week and counseling will be made available to those in need, school officials said.

Officials said the town’s small police force was on the scene within two minutes of receiving a call, and that victims were still being assessed hours after the incident.

“This is a small, tight-knit community with a small RCMP detachment as well, who responded in two minutes, no doubt saving lives today,” Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s public safety minister, told reporters.

The shooting ranks among the deadliest in Canadian history.

In April 2020, a 51-year-old man disguised in a police uniform and driving a fake police car shot and killed 22 people in a 13-hour rampage in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, before police killed him at a gas station about 90 km (60 miles) from the site of his first killings.

In Canada’s worst school shooting, in December 1989, a gunman killed 14 female students and wounded 13 at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, before committing suicide.

In response to the shooting, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney postponed a planned announcement in Halifax on Wednesday for a new Defence Industrial Strategy and subsequent trip to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, a spokesperson said.

“I am devastated by today’s horrific shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence,” Carney said on X.