Tumbler Ridge man reflects on ‘crazy day’ after mass school shooting in tight-knit community

TUMBLER RIDGE, B.C. — A Tumbler Ridge man has described a deadly school shooting which has rocked the community as “crazy” in a community where people “leave [their] doors unlocked.” 

Yesterday afternoon (February 10th), Tumbler Ridge RCMP responded to a call at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School to reports of an ‘active shooter.’

Soon after, an emergency alert was issued putting the community into lockdown while officers searched for a ‘female’ with brown hair. 

The death toll of the mass shooting was revealed later that day to be 10 people, including the suspected shooter, with approximately 25 others assessed and triaged at the local medical centre. 

Six people were killed at the school, one died on the way to hospital and another two victims were found deceased at an unnamed second location, the RCMP said. 

Ryan Clarke, a resident of Tumbler Ridge, told Energeticcity.ca: “I was home sick and my phone blowing up is what woke me up. That’s how I found out.” 

A former resident of Fort St. John who worked in a car dealership, Clarke received about 100 calls within hours. 

He said: “It was a crazy day…the town respects itself, you could just leave your doors unlocked if you wanted. 

“It’s just crazy something like this would happen in such a small town.” 

He said: “I’m a guy that needs to know what happened. So my initial reaction was, I went on Facebook and started watching posts to find out what actually happens.

“Because at that point…there’s a lot of mystery going on.” 

He said the morning seems quiet today (February 11th) and the schools are not open. 

Clarke said his wife Shelley works at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) daycare next to the school, which was on lockdown until 7 p.m. 

“They weren’t letting people pick up the kids. Everybody had to stay there,” he shared. 

To read more stories about the Tumbler Ridge shooting, click here.