Premier David Eby said the police investigation into the Tumbler Ridge shooting is “in its final stages.”
He said RCMP provided the update Wednesday to the public safety ministry, but did not specify a timeline for when the investigation might conclude.
B.C.’s chief coroner announced last month there will be an inquest into the shootings, but said it wouldn’t begin until the initial police and coroner’s investigations were complete.
Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka visited Victoria this week to meet with Eby and other provincial officials.
He said the coroner’s inquest will be an important process to make recommendations that may help prevent future tragedies.
“I don’t think we need to lay blame. I think we need to find out what we can put inside our schools to protect children and youth, because as adults that’s our job,” Krakowka told reporters at the legislature.
RCMP said that 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a home in the small northeastern B.C. community on Feb. 10, before killing five children and a teacher’s aide at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
Dozens more were injured, including a 12-year-old girl who remains in hospital.
Police said Van Rootselaar died at the school of a self-inflicted wound.
The CEO of tech giant OpenAI, Sam Altman, is expected to issue an apology for the company’s actions related to the shooter’s online activity.
OpenAI said employees raised concerns about the suspect’s interactions with its ChatGPT chatbot as early as last June. The company said the account was banned but it decided not to refer those concerns to law enforcement. OpenAI said it has since updated its safety policies.
Altman attended a virtual meeting in March with Premier David Eby and Krakowka, and pledged the company would work with local and provincial officials on an apology.
“I have had some dialogue since that meeting with OpenAI, and when they’re ready it’s up to them to come out and make the apology,” said Krakowka.
Krakowka said the healing has been slow for families and community members, over two months after the shootings.
“People are grieving in different stages. I think some have started maybe the healing process, and some others haven’t,” he told reporters at the legislature. “It feels like yesterday to me.”
Krakowka thanked Eby for the province’s response to the tragedy, including ongoing mental health support.
He said there have been rotating mental health professionals who have come to the community since the shooting, but youth who want to continue working with a particular professional can do so through virtual sessions.
He said there still needs to be a long-term strategy to fill vacancies for mental health professionals in rural communities like Tumbler Ridge.
Krakowka said the community wants to create a permanent memorial for the victims, but he said the process will be guided by the victims’ families.
“We’ve got to wait for them, when they’re ready to come forward and have that conversation on what each family would like to see in that long memorial to represent their child,” he said.
He said he’ll be contacting the province for support when a plan comes together, adding that people have already reached out with offers to help fund a memorial.
