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TUMBLER RIDGE — On a cold grey morning, residents of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., made their way to their churches’ first Sunday services since the recent shootings in the tiny community in which nine people died.
An invisible thread connected the worshippers with another community some 14,000 kilometres away, Solwezi in Zambia, where the life of one of the young victims was honoured.
Twelve-year-old Abel Mwansa Jr. was remembered in his family’s former hometown for his laughter and kindness.
Friends of Abel and his family held a celebration of his life at the City of Grace Chapel, under exposed timber beams and a corrugated metal roof.
Just as mourners in Tumbler Ridge have lit candles this past week to honour the eight victims who died in Tuesday’s mass shootings, the congregation in Solwezi lit candles to remember Mwansa, a boy who pastor Christopher Bwalya said earlier was “a little angel.”
A social media stream of the service showed mourners remembering Abel as a kind boy, sometimes mischievous and “quite naughty,” but who evoked “memories of love, memories of love, memories of kindness.”
A boy about Abel’s age recalled his friend as someone who “gave encouragement to everyone around him.”
Head pastor Bwalya, a friend of Abel Mwansa’s father who was also a pastor in the church, said in a message ahead of the service that there was “pain in both countries” of Zambia and Canada.
He said Abel Mwansa Sr. was hoping to “gather a bit of strength” to eventually return to Zambia to thank the community.
The services in Tumbler Ridge were closed to media.
RCMP on Saturday removed the yellow tape that had surrounded Tumbler Ridge Secondary school since Tuesday, when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed five students and an educator after killing her mother and half brother at the family home.
Van Rootselaar then shot herself dead at the school.
The roads leading up to the school are still barricaded and guarded by private security. Police said they have completed their examination of the scene and have turned it over to the school district.
A family stopped at the Tumbler Ridge town hall Sunday morning to take in the candles, flowers and photos placed on the steps during Friday’s vigil, attended by Prime Minister Mark Carney and other dignitaries.
In Vancouver, there was an “encouraging” update from the father of Maya Gebala, 12, who was gravely wounded on Tuesday.
David Gebala said on Facebook that his daughter had “started attempting to initiate her own breaths, which is truly incredible.”
“The nurse also noted a slight dilation in her eye. These are all very positive signs and show that she’s moving in the right direction. We’re taking it one day at a time, but we believe we’ll get there,” he said on Saturday.
Her mother, Cia Edmonds, had said on Friday that there were still bullet shards in her daughter’s brain.
Mounties previously said forensic work at the home would be finished on the weekend.
Autopsies on the bodies were expected to be finished on the weekend, including for the shooter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2026.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
