In wake of the Tumbler Ridge shooting, many support services are available to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week: 310-Mental Health Support at 310-6789; Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868; Suicide Crisis Helpline: 988; KUU-US (Indigenous) Crisis Line: 1-800-588-8717; Métis Crisis Line: 1-833-638-4722; Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868.
B.C.’s police watchdog is taking the initial steps to determine whether or not its investigative mandate is met following the fatal mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge on Feb. 10.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. confirmed it would be taking those steps Tuesday, and has since assigned investigators to assess evidence to determine whether it should begin a full investigation.
There are two factors investigators consider in determining whether the Independent Investigations Office’s mandate has been met. The first is whether there has been a death or injury that meets the threshold of serious harm and the second is whether there is a connection between the death or serious harm and officer action or inaction.
The release says that if investigators determine there is no connection between the death or injury of any person involved in this incident and police action or inaction, then the watchdog will not proceed with the investigation.
However, if both factors are met, the investigation will continue to examine all available evidence to determine what occurred.
Eight people were killed in the shootings: two at a home in Tumbler Ridge and six others at the secondary school. The suspected shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, was found dead in the school from a “self-inflicted injury,” police said.
The Independent Investigations Office’s chief civilian director Jessica Berglund said it’s important to note the watchdog’s involvement “remains separate from and is secondary to any investigation being undertaken by the RCMP or other agencies.”
“We appreciate the community and public’s patience while we ensure our initial work is conducted thoroughly, fairly, and independently. I want to reiterate that the IIO has a responsibility to avoid releasing any information that could prejudice any ongoing investigation.”
The RCMP provided its last public briefing on the fatal shootings on Feb. 13 in Tumbler Ridge when B.C. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said officers were analyzing the firearms used and seized following the shootings.
McDonald said police were analyzing two firearms – a long gun and a rifle that had been modified – seized from the school and a shotgun seized at the residence. A “number of other firearms” were also seized at the home.
McDonald said Feb. 13 that investigators have determined that the “main firearm believed to be used in the mass shooting at the school has never been seized by the RCMP and its origin is unknown.”
He added the shotgun is believed to be involved in the fatal shootings of 11-year-old Emmett Jacobs and 39-year-old Jennifer Jacobs, the stepbrother and mother of suspected shooter Van Rootselaar.
That shotgun has never been previously seized by police.
McDonald said in a Feb. 11 press conference that police have attended the same residence previously “a couple years ago,” when firearms were seized under the Criminal Code. He said Van Rootselaar, 18, had a firearms licence that had expired, but she didn’t have any firearms registered to her.
“I can say that at a later point in time, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned those firearms be returned and they were,” McDonald said on Feb. 11.