Here’s what we know about the shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia

(CNN) — The tiny mountain town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, witnessed one of the worst school shootings in recent Canadian history on Tuesday. Authorities say that an 18-year-old female killed at least eight people, including two family members, and injured at least 25 others in two separate incidents at a residence and a secondary school.

Flags across Canada were lowered to half-staff on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Mark Carney and other national political figures paid their respects to the victims in Parliament with speeches and a moment of silence. British Columbia’s Legislature has postponed a key speech to lawmakers and declared Thursday a day of mourning.

Here’s what we know about the shooting, the victims, the alleged shooter and the ongoing investigation.

How did the shooting unfold?

On Wednesday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said that they believe the shooter initially killed her mother and step-brother in a residence in Tumbler Ridge before moving to the school and continuing the spree.

Police received a report at 2:20 p.m. local time (4:20 p.m. ET) Tuesday of an active school shooter at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Within minutes, officers were on the scene.

At around 2:30 p.m., alarms began to sound in the school, announcing a lockdown and ordering that classroom doors be closed. A student said he and his classmates used tables to barricade themselves in.

Meanwhile, a young female relative at the Tumbler Ridge home of the suspected shooter alerted neighbors to the attack, who then raised the alarm, McDonald told a news conference Wednesday.

Police did not receive a call from the neighbor to attend the home until 2:47 p.m. local time, around 17 minutes after RCMP first received reports of an active shooter at the school.

The RCMP soon issued a “shelter in place” warning, telling Tumbler Ridge residents to lock their doors and stay inside until further instruction. The RCMP said the alleged shooter was found dead in the school. McDonald told reporters Wednesday that when police entered the school, they found one dead victim in a stairwell, and others in the library.

At 6:45 p.m., police called off the emergency alert, saying they did not believe there were any outstanding suspects “or ongoing threat to the public.” Police said the alleged shooter was found “deceased with what appears to be a self-inflicted injury.” Around 25 others were wounded, they said.

Who are the victims?

The deceased victims in the Tumbler Ridge shooting include a teacher, several students, and two relatives of the suspected shooter, police said Wednesday.

“The deceased victims from the school include an adult female educator, three female students and two male students,” said McDonald.

Later in the press conference, Sergeant Vanessa Munn said the victims included “three 12-year-old female students, two male students, ages 12 and 13” – correcting earlier ages quoted by McDonald.

“Two additional victims, an adult female and a male youth were located deceased in the local residence,” McDonald said, adding that those two additional victims were the suspect’s mother and step-brother.

As of Wednesday evening, authorities have not confirmed the identities of any of those killed or injured.

“We’re currently ongoing with the family notification,” said McDonald. “I will say, as I mentioned before, that most of our victims are quite young. Most were born at 2013, 2012.”

Authorities previously believed nine people were killed, in addition to the shooter. McDonald said police had initially thought one of the victims had died from “significant” injuries, but in fact survived.

“She is alive, and it was one of the two female victims that were airlifted to hospital,” McDonald said, adding that both the victims, aged 12 and 19, remain in serious condition.

Any public identification of victims, McDonald continued, would be closely coordinated with family members.

“This is incredibly traumatic, and so we’ll deal with and work with the families, cooperate with them in terms of the release of the identities of the victims,” McDonald said. “We don’t want to create additional trauma for families that are dealing with probably the worst circumstances of their lives.”

Who is the alleged shooter?

Police identified the alleged shooter in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, as Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old female resident of the town who had “dropped out of school approximately four years ago.”

Van Rootselaar “was not currently attending school,” McDonald said, adding that police had visited Van Rootselaar’s “residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect.”

The most recent occasion for a police visit was the “spring of last year,” over “concerns regarding mental health, self-harm.”

“I can say that on different occasions, the suspect was apprehended for assessment and follow up,” McDonald said. Firearms were seized from the home, and later returned after the owner petitioned for them.

Asked whether Van Rootselaar was transgender, McDonald said that police were identifying her “as they chose to be identified in public and in social media.”

“I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identified as female, both socially and publicly,” McDonald said.

There is no information that suggests Van Rootselaar experienced “bullying” at school related to her transition, McDonald said.

As to whether the alleged shooter left a note or any kind of communication that might indicate a motive, McDonald said the police had not located one.

“Recognizing we’re still less than 24 hours into this incident, (a motive) is something that we are certainly passionately pursuing,” McDonald said. “But it would be too early to speculate on motive.”

Where is Tumbler Ridge?

One of British Columbia’s newest towns, Tumbler Ridge was founded in the 1980s as a coal mining community, part of a provincial resource development megaproject. It has been called one of British Columbia’s last “instant towns” – remote resource communities where long-term settlement and community development was encouraged by the government.

Two nearby coal mines, the town’s major employers, opened in 1983, but due to falling coal prices and market uncertainty, both had shut down by 2003.

“When coal mines shut down, residents supported local businesses and shared leads for jobs,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the House of Commons on Wednesday, calling the town a “resilient” one that was “built on the promise of the resource economy.”

The town’s planners have noted the resilience of Tumbler Ridge, how it continued to survive after the coal mining industry in the area collapsed.

“It’s a town of miners, teachers, construction workers, families who have built their lives there – people who have always shown up for each other there,” Carney said.

“When wildfires raged, neighbors helped each other pack up and move out of harm’s way,” Carney said. “They checked in on seniors and those living alone. They made sure no one was left behind.”

This timeline in this story has been updated following clarification from Canadian police.

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