Students at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in northeastern British Columbia barricaded themselves inside classrooms for more than two hours on Tuesday as a shooting left ten people dead and 25 injured in what authorities described as Canada’s deadliest school shooting in nearly four decades, as reported by The New York Post.
The violence unfolded Tuesday afternoon at the high school in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community of about 2,400 residents. Approximately 160 students between the ages of 12 and 18 attend the school, according to its website.
Darian Quist, a 12th grader, was in his mechanics class when the lockdown began.
Mass shooter ‘in a dress’ kills nine and leaves 25 injured in Canada high school https://t.co/0EY7knrbuZ
— Boone Cutler (@boonecutler) February 11, 2026
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“For a while, I didn’t think anything was going on,” Quist told CBC. “I thought it was just like maybe a ‘Secure and hold,’ but once everything starts circulating, we kind of realized something was wrong.”
Quist said there were between 14 and 15 students in the classroom along with their teacher. The group remained inside for between two and two-and-a-half hours before police escorted them out.
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“The police came through the door, yelling ‘hands up, hands up’ things like that, and we were all escorted out of the classroom, keeping our hands up the entire time,” he said.
Students and staff pushed tables and chairs against doors and discussed possible escape plans as they waited. Quist described the atmosphere as “tense” and said students were “very nervous.”
During the lockdown, he began receiving images on his phone that showed the aftermath of the attack.
“Once people sent me some photos, it definitely set in what was actually happening,” he said.
“They [the photos] were disturbing, just showing blood and things like that. That’s when it all really set in.”
Quist said he did not hear the shooter while inside the classroom.
Video obtained by Western Standard showed students exiting the building with their arms raised as officers stood stationed throughout the school to ensure there was no remaining threat.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said police arrived at the school within two minutes of receiving the emergency call.
Authorities reported that six people, including the suspected shooter, were found dead inside the school.
Two additional victims were found dead at a residence investigators believe is connected to the attack. Another person died while being transported to the hospital.
In total, ten people were killed, and 25 others were injured.
Officials have not released many details about the suspect. Authorities have stated that the shooter was female and wearing a dress. The suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
BREAKING: 10 people are dead, 25 injured after a “woman wearing a dress” opened fire on a school in British Columbia, Canada
Local police are referring to the shooter as a “gunperson.”
Yeah, we all know this is yet another trans mass shooter. pic.twitter.com/McA9C0nmcc
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 11, 2026
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Ken Floyd said investigators are working to determine the motive.
“We’re following all leads to try to determine the connection to the shooter,” Floyd said, according to the Guardian. “I think we will struggle to determine the ‘why’, but we will try our best to determine what transpired.”
Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka said he was overcome when he learned of the shooting.
“It’s devastating,” he told reporters. “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”
The attack marks Canada’s deadliest school shooting in 37 years. In 1989, 14 students were killed at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique. It is also the deadliest mass shooting in Canada since 2020, when a gunman killed 13 people in Nova Scotia and set fires that claimed ten additional lives.
The school has been closed for the remainder of the week as the investigation continues.
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