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British Columbia’s police watchdog is taking steps to determine if it will launch an investigation into the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge.
Jessica Berglund, the chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office, said the agency was alerted by the RCMP because police were in the school when the shooter killed herself.
Nine people, including the killer, died last Tuesday in the tragedy that left more than two dozen others injured.
The office says in a statement that it has assigned investigators to determine whether their mandate is met to launch a probe.
It is looking into whether there is a connection between the deaths and injuries and officers’ actions or inactions.
The IIO says if it is determined that there is no connection, it will not proceed with the investigation but if the conditions are met, it will “examine all available evidence to determine what occurred.”
The IIO’s involvement is separate and secondary to any investigation being undertaken by the RCMP or other agencies, the statement says.
Police have said officers from the five-person RCMP detachment arrived at the school within two minutes of being alerted about an active shooter and someone yelled from a window at the school that the shooter was upstairs.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said they made their way up the stairwell and were met with gunfire. They heard further gunshots that were later confirmed to be the killer taking her own life, he said.
“I can say with confidence that from the moment the suspect encountered police, there were no further injuries to any other students in the school,” he told the news conference Friday.
Berglund said in an interview Tuesday that any time someone is killed or seriously harmed and police are present at the scene “agencies, out of an abundance of caution, will notify us because someone was in a place and an individual died.”
“That’s enough to trigger the notification process without even going into how the individual died or what happened before the individual died,” she said.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, killed herself after she shot more than two dozen people, killing five students and a teacher’s aide. Police said she travelled to the school after she killed her mother and 11-year-old half brother at their home.
When asked if events that occurred before the shooting may be included in a possible investigation, including that firearms had been seized at the shooter’s family home and later returned, Berglund said she wouldn’t speculate.
But, she said, “there won’t be a piece that’s off limits.”
“We’re going to look at anything related to the incident that is or could say to be connected to police action or inaction.”
Berglund said the office extends its condolences to all the families impacted by the shooting.
“Above all, given what a traumatic and tragic incident this was, it’s very important that the IIO, like every other agency, is sensitive to the witnesses in this case and everyone who was impacted by this incident,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2026.
Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press
