Tumbler Ridge is known for its mountain landscape, fossil beds, waterfalls, and the sense of safety that comes with small town life. It is a northern British Columbia community shaped by resource work and outdoor culture, where people recognize one another at the grocery store and children grow up playing in the same parks.
For many who grew up there, including myself, it is home. I spent my childhood riding ATVs on forest trails, jumping into Flatbed Falls in the summer, and meeting friends after school in neighbourhood parks. Life there felt uncomplicated.
That is why news of the recent mass shooting has shaken residents, former locals, and communities across the province.
According to authorities, the incident occurred on February 10 at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, my former high school. Emergency services responded quickly. Police later confirmed that six people were killed at the school and more than 25 others injured. The suspect was found deceased at the scene. Two additional victims were discovered off site, and three people were airlifted for treatment, one of whom later died in transit, bringing the total death toll to ten, including the shooter. Investigators say the situation has been contained and that inquiries into what led to the attack are ongoing.
With a population of just over 2,700, Tumbler Ridge is the type of place where news normally travels about hockey games, school events, or small town happenings. That was underscored this week when Trent Ernst, a longtime local reporter and former publisher of the Tumbler Ridge Newspaper, remarked that only days earlier the paper had run a story about a family of ducks walking through downtown. I grew up with his daughter and have known the family for years, which made that detail land especially hard.
This was not the kind of headline anyone expected to see.
When I first heard the town was in lockdown, I immediately began texting friends to find out what had happened and to make sure they were safe. Those messages spread outward to people I had not spoken to in years. Former classmates, neighbours, and friends who had long since moved away were suddenly talking again.
Checking in meant more than casual concern. It meant hearing about teachers who had been working that day, classmates who had been inside the school, families waiting for news, and people beginning to learn who had been killed. In a community this small, names travel quickly. The same words appeared again and again in conversations.
I cannot believe this happened. I am devastated.
Students from Tumbler Ridge now studying in Kelowna or elsewhere will recognize that pattern. Phones buzzing between classes. Group chats lighting up. Calls home to parents and siblings. Distance does not make a hometown tragedy feel smaller.
Messages of condolence have poured in from across the province and the country. Local leaders thanked first responders and offered sympathy to families who lost loved ones. Prime Minister Mark Carney and British Columbia Premier David Eby released statements following the attack. “This is a devastating day for our community,” Eby said. “Our thoughts are with everyone impacted, and we are committed to supporting those who are grieving.”
Reading about the events from afar feels surreal. These are streets I once walked and classrooms I once sat in. Tumbler Ridge is where I learned what community meant, where strangers became neighbours and neighbours became family. It is difficult to imagine such violence unfolding there.
Former residents across British Columbia and beyond have echoed that disbelief online.
In the days ahead, investigations will continue and more details will emerge. For now, Tumbler Ridge is left to mourn not only the community itself, but the many people who remain connected to it long after moving away.
What will endure is what has always defined the town, the way people show up for one another.
For students from Tumbler Ridge now studying away from home, on this campus and others across the province, the grief is not distant. It is personal, and it is shared by all of us.
I will be praying for Tumbler Ridge.
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