^{Canada! 2026} Former B.C. school trustee ordered to pay $750K for hate speech discrimination: human rights tribunal, OpenAI had banned account of Tumbler Ridge B.C. shooter; reached out to RCMP, Tumbler Ridge shooter’s ChatGPT activity flagged internally 7 months before tragedy, Second complainant testifies Frank Stronach groped her in downtown condo, 12-year-old Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor shares her story, Online activity of Canada school shooter shows a fascination with mass violence and violent content, Prison à la maison pour avoir habité avec le cadavre de sa conjointe pendant des mois, Police warn of distraction thefts targeting seniors at Surrey gurdwaras, Tumbler Ridge: Will we ever know the shooter’s motive, Here’s what we know about the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting investigation, Investigation into Tumbler Ridge shooting should shed light on this crucial detail lawyers say, Tumbler Ridge: A timeline of how the school shooting unfolded, Tumbler Ridge students who survived shooting spree describe terrifying lockdown, B.C. RCMP release image of Tumbler Ridge shooter, Tumbler Ridge shooter was ‘hunting’ not targeting specific people at high school: B.C. RCMP, Police have now identified all 8 people who were killed in Tumbler Ridge, Crown closes case in Moncton double-murder trial, A trail of police calls ‘violent’ online activity and gun access for Tumbler Ridge mass shooter, ‘Nomadic lifestyle’ of Tumbler Ridge shooter who created shopping mall massacre game, Tumbler Ridge: Feb. 10 started just like every other day for most families in this northeastern B.C. town. But the tight-knit community would face unimaginable tragedy by day’s end, Understanding what triggers a school shooting and knowing how to prevent such incidents can be difficult, What we know about Tumbler Ridge mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar, New evidence suggests last man executed in Halifax was wrongfully convicted: lawyer, ‘I can’t stress that enough I’m scared’: Calgary man’s home attacked 4 times in 6 days, Corner Brook murderer Malcolm Cuff granted six months day parole, New Minas man sentenced for hammer death of friend in 2017 charged with assault and threats, 7 TPS officers retired officer charged in police corruption organized crime investigation, Crown hopes to send Markus Hicks to jail for 18 to 20 years says he used teacher coach positions as ‘hunting ground’ for victims, ‘Tracking a Killer: The Cold Case Files’: Margaret McWilliam, B.C. teen faces manslaughter charge in fatal 2024 fentanyl overdose, City of Toronto commemorating 45th anniversary of the Bathhouse Raids, What we know (so far) about the people accused in London Ont. bomb-making scheme, ‘Strong possibility of foul play’: 2 years after Scarborough man vanished, Toronto police reclassify case as homicide, 8 businesses targeted in Unity early morning break ins, Toronto Police officers have charged a man and woman after a human trafficking investigation that began back in October 2025, Mother convicted in death of girl born on plane gets 10 years in prison, Jury selected in trial of man accused of Dieppe double homicide, Five years later: The search for Zack Lefave and for answers continues in Yarmouth County, Former Millbrook First Nation employee gets 4.5-year prison sentence for ‘staggering’ fraud

At dinner, Frank Stronach had felt like a “fatherly mentor” but things changed once they were alone in his downtown Toronto condo, a woman told his sexual assault trial as she described an evening in the early 1980s.

The woman had previously worked at Stronach’s restaurant and nightclub and agreed to meet him for dinner after asking him for details on her termination from the popular hot spot, she said.

After dinner, she said, her former employer asked her to come see his nearby condo and she reluctantly agreed despite feeling “uncomfortable.”

She felt the hair raise on the back of her neck and her heart start pounding almost immediately after stepping inside what she believed to be a penthouse apartment, she said.

“I felt afraid to be in that apartment with him alone,” she said, adding that the “fatherly vibe” was gone.

When she insisted that she had to go, Stronach helped her slip on her coat, but he held on to her lapels or shoulders as she turned back around to face him, she said. The woman backed up against the wall by the door and then Stronach was up against her, groping her as he tried to convince her to stay, she said.

“He was going up and down, up and down my body,” touching her breasts and hips, she said, mimicking the motion with both hands. “I was terrified.”

The woman said she did her best to get out of the situation, expressing her gratitude for Stronach’s professional help while making it clear that physical intimacy “wasn’t going to happen.”

After what “felt like forever” but was likely a minute or two, Stronach backed off and the woman bolted, confused by the way things had unfolded, she said.

Stronach, who is 93, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges related to seven complainants over alleged incidents that date as far back as the 1970s.

The woman, now 63, is the second complainant to take the stand. All seven complainants — none of whom can be identified under a standard publication ban — are expected to testify at the judge-alone trial, which began last week after some delay.

The woman’s testimony Tuesday was emotional at times, and she wiped away tears as she voiced her discomfort at having to discuss such intimate things in public.

The first complainant, a woman in her 60s, told the court last week that Stronach came over with champagne when she was at his restaurant with friends in the early 1980s, then groped her on the dance floor.

She testified that she woke up in an unknown place later that night and realized he was raping her.

The defence suggested the first woman’s narrative of what happened has evolved with time, highlighting discrepancies in what she told police, media and the court over the years.

ChatGPT has confirmed that an account connected with the Tumbler Ridge shooter, Jesse VanRootelsar, was identified in June 2025 for “abuse and detection and enforcement efforts.”

VanRootelsar shot and killed eight people on Feb. 10 — her mother and half-brother at their home and then five students and an educator at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. She was then found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the school, RCMP later confirmed.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” a spokesperson for OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, confirmed on Friday afternoon, adding that after the incident on Feb. 10, the company contacted the RCMP.

“We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation.”

The organization stated that when an account associated with VanRootelsar was identified in June, it was subsequently banned for violating the usage policy.

The company considered referring the account to law enforcement, but determined that the account activity did not meet the higher threshold required for such a referral.

They determined that the case did not meet the threshold for referring a user to law enforcement because it did not involve an imminent and credible risk or planning of serious physical harm to others.

In a statement, RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said the platform did reach out to the RCMP after the shooting.

“As part of the investigation, digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed,” he said. “This includes a thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities.”

OpenAI said that its goal is to support people’s safety and well-being and over-enforcement in these situations can be distressing for a young person and their family, for example, if police show up unannounced at their door.

The company says it trains ChatGPT to discourage imminent real-world harm when it identifies a dangerous situation and instead is trained to provide advice to avoid any result of immediate physical harm.

VanRootelsar’s online activity has already been in the spotlight following the deadly mass shooting.

Online platforms YouTube and Roblox each shared statements with Global News last Friday.

“Following this horrific incident, our Trust and Safety teams identified and removed a YouTube channel associated with the alleged suspect in accordance with our Creator Responsibility Guidelines,” YouTube said in a written statement.

Roblox, which is a social gaming platform and creation system where millions of users play, create and socialize in virtual worlds called “experiences,” also said it deleted an account.

“We have removed the user account connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect. We are committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation,” a Roblox spokesperson said in a written statement.

“The user’s account and any content created by the user was removed from Roblox on Feb. 11, 2026.”

Meanwhile, a former RCMP weapons officer says guns in a photo posted by VanRootselaar’s mother all appear to have been legal to own in Canada at the time, although they include a semi-automatic rifle that was later prohibited.

Jennifer Jacobs posted the photo of guns in a cabinet to Facebook in August 2024 with the caption, “Think it’s time to take them out for some target practice.”

Jacobs and her 11-year-old son were among eight people killed in the shooting.

VanRootselaar’s father issued a statement last week saying in part: ” As the biological father of the individual responsible, I carry a sorrow that is difficult to put into words. I was estranged from Jesse Strang and was not part of his life. His mother declined my involvement from the beginning, and I was not given the opportunity to be a part of raising him. Jesse did not use the VanRootselaar family name at any point in his life. While that distance is the reality of our relationship, it does not lessen the heartbreak I feel for the pain that has been caused to innocent people and to the town we call home.”

RCMP identified the shooter as “Jesse Van Rootselaar” and said she was assigned male at birth but had started transitioning to a female.

Global News is spelling the surname as VanRootselaar to match the father’s spelling of the last name.

RCMP say platform reached out after shooting, but say OpenAI only flagged account internally at first

OpenAI, the American company behind ChatGPT, has said that it banned the account associated with the teenager behind a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., last June.

The company said, in response to questions from CBC News, that Jesse Van Rootselaar’s account was detected via automated tools and human investigations that “identify misuses of our models in furtherance of violent activities.”

In its statement, OpenAI said that the account’s activity in June 2025 didn’t meet the “higher threshold required” to refer it to law enforcement.

The threshold, according to the company, is that the case involves an “imminent and credible risk” of serious physical harm, and Van Rootselaar’s use of ChatGPT didn’t meet that bar in June 2025.

Van Rootselaar has been identified by RCMP as the person who killed eight people in the northeast B.C. community on Feb. 10, including five children and an education assistant at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, before killing herself.

The story about her ChatGPT account was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

In its statement, OpenAI said that after learning of the shooting, it proactively reached out to RCMP with information on Van Rootselaar and her use of ChatGPT.

An RCMP spokesperson confirmed to CBC News that the platform reached out after the shooting, but said OpenAI had only flagged the account internally at first.

“What I can say is that as part of the investigation, digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed,” Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said in a statement.

“This includes a thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities.”

High threshold
In its statement, referring to its threshold to refer cases to law enforcement, the company argues that “over-enforcement” could be distressing for young people and their family, and it could also raise privacy concerns.

OpenAI also says that its chatbot is trained to avoid giving people advice if it could result in immediate physical harm to people.

“When we detect users who are planning to harm others, we route their conversations to specialized pipelines where they are reviewed by a small team trained on our usage policies and who are authorized to take action, including banning accounts,” the company says on its website.

OpenAI adds that it is reviewing the circumstances of the Tumbler Ridge case to see if improvements can be made to its criteria for referring cases to law enforcement.

The Tumbler Ridge mass shooting is one of Canada’s worst-ever, and it led to an outpouring of grief across the country and the world.

A week after the Tumbler Ridge shooting, a student is sharing her account of what happened.

12-year-old Maddy Mansky is a Grade 7 student at the secondary school.

On Feb. 10, an armed teen entered the school and fatally shot five students and an education assistant. Most of the victims were in the library — where Maddy was supposed to be.

But she and a friend were in the bathroom when they heard gunfire erupt.

“There was loud bangs. It didn’t sound like gunshots. The only reason I knew it was a gunshot is because I heard the shells falling,” Maddy recalls.

“There was kids screaming everywhere, and it was just scary.”

They then went into a bathroom stall, locked the door, and hid there.

Maddy says she spent two hours inside the bathroom, scared and worried.

“I was texting my mom and her best friend and everybody that I could,” she said

“My friend was just standing there, being quiet.”

Eventually, police kicked down the door and escorted her and her friend out.

She was taken down the stairs, where she had to pass the shooter’s body, an experience she describes as “scary.”

Most of the victims were Maddy’s friends. She says Ezekiel Shofield would always make her laugh when she was upset. Kylie Smith was always joking around and would never hurt anyone, while Ticaria Lampert was one of her best friends. Maddy feels sad the two got in a fight the day of the shooting.

“I never got to say sorry. She’d always make everybody smile and everything.”

Maddy says she’s still trying to process everything and is taking things day by day. She says staying off social media and talking with family has helped.

Politicians and school leaders have said students shouldn’t be expected to return to the building, but Maddy doesn’t agree.

“I want the school to stay, because even though the parents are scared and the kids are, us kids need to know we’re going to be safe, and it most likely is not going to happen again, and we need to face our fears, and the parents need to put their fears aside.”

For now, there will be no school at all in the community for at least another week.

The online activity of the 18-year-old behind the deadly shooting inside a Canadian high school last week revealed an interest in firearms, mass violence and a history of consuming violent “gore” content, according to expert analysis.

The shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, spent time in dark corners of the internet, posting about her struggles with substance use and mental health. Van Rootselaar referred to gore content as “addictive” in posts shared with CBS News by analysts at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works toward solutions to combat extremism.

She was active on the website WatchPeopleDie, which hosts material portraying graphic violence against people and animals. The site has become a common thread between perpetrators of mass violence, CBS News has previously reported, with several other school shooters frequenting the site. Cody Zoschak, a senior manager at the institute, told CBS News that Van Rootselaar’s digital footprint revealed a visit to the WatchPeopleDie page of 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who shot and killed a student and a teacher at a school in Wisconsin in 2024.

Zoschak said these online communities can exacerbate typical teenage emotions like loneliness and desperation. In the digital era, teens feeling isolated can opt into online spaces where they might receive validation from strangers, instead of seeking help within their communities. But these spaces can be a dangerous echo chamber with ill-intentioned strangers, he said.

“The worst influence you could have was the worst kid in your school. Now, the worst influence you can have is the worst person on the internet,” Zoschak said. “There’s a big difference in the degree between those two.”

By comparing social media profile elements and usernames and cross-referencing photos and content posted online, ISD analysts were able to identify accounts associated with Van Rootselaar and pinpoint when the shooter’s online activity began to take a troubling turn.

Zoschak said ISD was able to trace Van Rootselaar’s activity across various online accounts spanning from 2019, when the shooter would have been around 12. Posts began with discussions about video games, and then, in 2021, there was a post with a photo of a gun that Van Rootselaar claimed to own. Around 2023, Van Rootselaar began posting about drug use and mental health struggles. Zoschak said Van Rootselaar had a year of possible inactivity in 2024, with no traceable posts. Then, about five months ago, Van Rootselaar created an account on WatchPeopleDie, which revealed comments made on dozens of gore posts.

In addition, independent media company 404 Media recently reported on a mass shooting simulation game created on Roblox that online sleuths linked back to Van Rootselaar. It was not immediately clear when that simulation was created.

“We have removed the user account connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect,” Roblox said in a statement to CBS News. “We are committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation.”

The game was in a separate app called Roblox Studio, which could only be accessed by coders and developers, so the game only had seven visits. But these types of games and other grim content have made their way onto the main platform before with recreation games of the school shootings at Columbine, Uvalde and Parkland, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

As Van Rootselaar descended into violent content online, mental health concerns also unfolded at home, with police responding to mental health calls at Van Rootselaar’s family residence over the last several years.

During a news conference last week, police said Van Rootselaar was apprehended on different occasions under the Mental Health Act, which in British Columbia allows police to apprehend someone experiencing a mental health crisis that may need treatment.

Six people were killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School — most of them younger than 13. Van Rootselaar’s 11-year-old brother and mother were also found dead at a residence. The shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School was Canada’s deadliest since 1989, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine shot and killed 14 women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique before taking his own life.

The investigation into last week’s shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., that claimed nine lives has moved into a new phase after police cleared the two crime scenes.

While police say the only known suspect in the case, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, killed herself as police closed in Tuesday, questions remain.

By Friday, police had interviewed more than 80 students, educators, and first responders, with more underway. They are also gathering digital evidence, including videos shot at the school, CCTV footage and video from police body-worn cameras.

Here’s what we know about the investigation so far:

THE CRIME SCENES

Police tape came down Saturday at the home Van Rootselaar shared with her siblings and mother, Jennifer Jacobs, who had five children. The home was where police found the bodies of Jacobs and 11-year-old Emmett Jacobs, Van Rootselaar’s half brother.

Police also completed investigations at Tumbler Ridge Secondary school, about 1.6 kilometres away, where Van Rootselaar shot dead five children aged 12 and 13 and a teaching assistant.

RCMP say the final moments of the rampage were captured on video at the school. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said Friday that the video showed a final burst of gunfire, which “was not directed at any persons,” before Van Rootselaar shot herself dead. The video has not been made public.

RCMP say an unregistered shotgun was used to kill Jennifer and Emmett Jacobs. Police had previously seized guns from the home under the Criminal Code and returned them after a request from their owner. But McDonald said the shotgun had never been seized. A second weapon found at the home is also under investigation, and other weapons have been seized.

A photo posted on social media last year by Jennifer Jacobs, who held a gun licence, showed at least six long guns, including what looks like a shotgun. Shotguns and other unrestricted weapons do not need to be registered if the owner has a valid Possession and Acquisition Licence.

Police say Van Rootselaar took two weapons to the school, a long gun and a modified rifle, which was previously reported to be a modified handgun. The main firearm used in the killings at the school had never been seized by police. McDonald declined to describe it Friday, because of its “unknown origin.” He said investigators are looking into whether other parties were involved “in terms of procuring that weapon.”

McDonald said Van Rootselaar had a gun licence that expired in 2024 and had no weapons registered to her.

MENTAL HEALTH

McDonald said last week that police had attended Jacobs’s home on “multiple occasions” over the past several years due to concerns about Van Rootselaar’s mental health. She was apprehended at least twice under B.C.’s Mental Health Act and taken to hospital “in some circumstances.”

He said he didn’t know if Van Rootselaar was receiving care at the time of the attacks.

THE MOTIVE AND THE VICTIMS

Police have said that they don’t believe Van Rootselaar was targeting specific victims. McDonald has said she was “hunting.”

Van Rootselaar was “prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with,” McDonald said Friday.

Van Rootselaar was not related to any of the victims at the school, although her mother was a friend of the mother of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who is gravely wounded in hospital.

Police said last week they had no information about whether Van Rootselaar had been bullied at school and officers didn’t find a note. Van Rootselaar dropped out of school four years ago. She was transgender and had started transitioning about six years ago, McDonald said.

Autopsies on the victims were expected to have been finished have finished by Sunday, including for the shooter.

The investigation into the mass shooting that has devastated the small town of Tumbler Ridge, B.C. will have to answer an uncomfortable question, according to lawyers who spoke with CTV News.

The RCMP had already seized firearms from the home where Jesse Van Rootselaar lived before the shooting, so why did police return guns to a residence where the teenage suspect was previously apprehended under the Mental Health Act?

The shooting began at the 18-year-old suspect’s family home, then continued on to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School where Van Rootselaar shot at students in the stairwell and library, according to police.

The suspect also shot at responding officers before turning a gun on herself. Eight people were killed, including Van Rootselaar’s mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and her younger brother, Emmett.

In an update on Friday, the Mounties now say that they are focused on three suspected murder weapons, one more than they had mentioned in their first briefing.

In a news release, investigators say they are prioritizing the analysis of a long gun and a modified rifle that was recovered at the school, as well as a shotgun located at Van Rootselaar’s home. At this time, police are unsure of how and where the shooter obtained two of those guns.

According to police, the shotgun Van Rootselaar used in the killing of her mother and 11-year-old brother was found among other firearms at the house and has never previously been seized. B.C. RCMP say they also don’t know the origin of the main firearm used at the school and that it was not previously seized.

“Efforts continue to identify the owner and source of all other firearms,” the statement read.

Deputy RCMP Commissioner Dwayne McDonald has said that over the past few years, police have attended the suspect’s home multiple times and have previously apprehended Van Rootselaar under the Mental Health Act.

Police can arrest someone who they deem a threat to themselves and others. When that happens, they’re hospitalized and can be released after 72 hours following assessment.

About two years ago, the deputy commissioner said firearms were seized from the home.

“At a later point in time, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for those firearms to be returned – and they were.” But McDonald did not stipulate when those guns were given back and by whom.

Under Canadian law, when police seize guns, they have to document each firearm and surrounding circumstances then justify it in court.

In mental health cases, police do not need to get a warrant if they are concerned about public safety. A legal firearm owner can make an application to return their seized weapons. But according to Edward Burlew, an Ontario attorney who has practiced firearm law for more than three decades, it is not easy for owners to get their guns back, especially if the mental health act is involved.

Burlew says depending on what point in the process an application was made, a justice of the peace, crown attorney or police officer can make the decision to release the guns and stipulate the conditions.

In cases where a person other than the legal owner was taken into custody under the act, Burlew says he has been able successfully argue for the return of the firearms but under strict conditions. In those rare decisions, the owner had to store their guns in a secure combination safe (not a key safe) or agree to store their guns at a location outside the home, where it can’t be easily accessed by other residents.

Police have said that Van Rootselaar had a firearms license, but that it had expired.

Since there is a history of mental health calls pertaining to Van Rootselaar, Burlew says police can take the additional step of asking the chief firearms officer in the province to prohibit the teenager from handling or possessing firearms.

“The question is, why was the prohibition application, which was begun by the seizure not followed through on because even if they are under, even if they are juvenile, sanctions can be applied even if they are juvenile.”

CTV News asked if officers placed such a weapons ban on Van Rootselaar. In a statement the RCMP responded that the details are part of the “ongoing investigation, but may also be subject to relevant legislation or processes that preclude the release of information currently.”

The BC RCMP said it’s committed to answering as many questions as possible but must also “adhere to the law and some information may never be available, while other information will take time.”

That lack of transparency is problematic, say legal experts. These cases usually involve some type of court proceedings and should be part of the public record, according to Ottawa defense lawyer, Michael Spratt

“This information should be readily available to the public and it should be information we can look at,” Spratt said in an interview with CTV News. “Only with that information can we see if mistakes are made.”

Eight people were killed in Tumbler Ridge by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who had a history of interactions with police for mental health concerns.

With no manifesto or confession left by the shooter, investigators now face the difficult task of determining why the Tumbler Ridge shootings happened — and some questions may never be answered.

The RCMP would not say Friday whether investigators are continuing to pursue the motive, given that Jesse Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old shooter is dead.

But a former B.C. solicitor general and former West Vancouver police chief, Kash Heed, says understanding the motive is more important than ever.

“We need to find out the reason why the shooter did this, so we can ask: Were there any red flags we could have dealt with to prevent this? Are there policy gaps that allowed this to happen?” he said.

While Heed said the shooter’s documented history of police interactions related to mental health suggests her motive may have been linked to an underlying mental health condition, he cautioned that the cause cannot be reduced to a single factor and requires expert analysis.

“Police are good at criminal investigations, but not at investigating motives related to mental health,” he said, adding that psychiatrists and psychologists are often better suited to weigh in on such questions. However, with Van Rootselaar dead, police are not required to determine a motive as criminal charges cannot be laid against her.

As of Friday, a specialized team of investigators were combing through a history of Van Rootselaar’s online activity, police said. “In addition, we continue to review all previous police or professional interactions with the suspect,” it said in a statement.

When asked whether authorities will be investigating a motive for the mass shooting, RCMP Cpl. Brett Urano said some information may never be available.

“Our investigators continue to examine all aspects and circumstances that may have contributed to this tragic incident, as well as the motive,” he said in an email on Monday. “At this time, we are not providing specifics regarding investigative steps or techniques.”

SFU criminology Prof. Neil Boyd said in retrospect there were plenty of red flags in Jesse’s behaviour, including dropping out of school, watching violent content online and posting about gun use.

He noted the killings began with the shooting of his mother and half brother.

“It would appear there was some resentment and anger towards (the) mother,” he said.

If the motive for the shootings is determined, it could help provide “lessons for the future,” especially around gun ownership, he said.

Steven Rai of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a pro-democracy think tank specializing in fighting extremism and authoritarianism, told the New York Times how Van Rootselaar avidly consumed violent, nihilistic content.

“We are seeing a trend proliferating globally of children being attracted to this concept of nihilistic violence,” Rai said. “These are individuals who gain a sense of excitement and entertainment from consuming violent content online, attack footage and extremist content in some cases.”

A 2025 article in the Journal of Mass Violence Research looked at 112 mass shootings between 2001 and 2023 and found that 80 per cent of the shooters experienced “thwarted belongingness,” or difficulty feeling a part of a community, and capability for suicide, including access to guns or excessive medication.

And it suggested that because mass shooters typically experience “suicide-related thoughts and behaviours” before killings, proven efforts to address these thoughts could help prevent mass shootings.

It also said 61 per cent of mass shooters had demonstrated a fascination with violence, and almost 20 per cent had a fascination with firearms, often acquiring them from family members.

“Immersing themselves in prior shootings or other forms of violence and frequently having ready access to firearms feeds into a capability for suicide,” according to the article.

Urano said on Monday that police evidence teams in Tumbler Ridge have ended their investigation at the two crime scenes. One was at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School where six students and a teacher were killed and a nearby home where Van Rootselaar’s 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old half brother were found dead.

The school “has now been turned over to the school district,” he said in an email. “Any questions about plans for the school should be directed to them.”

Premier David Eby told the community last week students wouldn’t have to return to the building.

Meanwhile, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., which investigates certain incidents involving police, said it is taking “initial steps” to determine if it needs to investigate the Tumbler Ridge shootings, spokesman Simon Druker said in an email.

“If the IIO determines that there is no connection between the death or injury of any person involved in the incident and police action or inaction, the IIO will not proceed with an investigation,” he said.

WARNING: Some of the details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.

The routine of a regular school day at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in B.C.’s Peace Region was shattered on Feb. 10 when alarm bells rang out shortly before 1:30 p.m.

Duncan Mckay, who is in Grade 11, was playing badminton in gym class and said at first, he thought construction had started up nearby.

“The one teacher went up the stairs and looked around and he saw some bodies on the floor,” Mckay told Global News.

“Mr. B. was staring out the doors of the gym to see if he could see anyone and he was shot at; they hit his pant leg, did not hit him.”

Mckay said he was trying to keep everyone calm as best he could. A Grade 7 student had also come running into the gym and she was hysterical.

“Everyone was supporting each other, trying to help out the Grade 7 student that joined our class as she was freaking out, crying,” he said.

“Everyone was trying to keep her composed, calm her down.”

Grade 12 student Zachary Taylor was in the mechanic’s shop at the time. One of his classmates spoke up and said he could hear bangs.

“We’re wondering who’s hunting close to town and a few minutes later, you hear all the alarms going off,” he told Global News.

“We closed all the doors and all went to the back thinking it was just a drill, a random Tuesday.”

However, he realized something was going on when their teacher told them to pick up big heavy tables and push them against the door, barricading themselves inside.

“I was communicating with a few of my friends in the library where it was happening and they seemed devastated and that’s when it hit me that this is happening,” Taylor said.

Mckay said they were locked inside the school for two hours and 40 minutes before they were escorted out with their hands up.

“That’s when I saw the shots in the gym door and looked around and saw upstairs windows riddled with bullets, some blood on the floor in front of the stairway,” he said.

Mckay said he knew two of the victims and one was his little brother’s best friend.

“I’m just lucky he stayed home that day. It was his class,” he said.

Taylor said he was in the library about half an hour before the shooting started and he has been going over events in his mind about what could have happened if he had not left.

“Our community, we’re close together, everyone knows each other. I’ve been around these people since I was two years old,” he said.

Mckay said councillors have been offered to everyone affected by the tragedy but he has not seen one yet.

“I keep having flashbacks in my mind about the gunshots going off, keep hearing them over and over and over,” he said.

Eight people were shot and killed in the Tumbler Ridge shooting.

Five of them were students, one was an educator and two have been identified as family members of the shooter.

The shooter was also found deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said, bringing the total deaths to nine.

Glenn Miller, a local Canadian Junior Rangers leader, told Global News that he knows some of the victims, describing them as “great little kids.”

“It hurts,” he said. “You can’t eat, you can’t sleep and the question always comes up: why, why in a nice little place like this?”

Miller said he never could have envisioned something like this happening in their small town.

“People say look in the world, it happens, but when you’re in a place like this, you know everyone, see everyone and it doesn’t work that way,” he said.

Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka said on Thursday that it feels like the community is coming together as one big family.

“We’re going to need support long-term. What long-term means, I’ve asked for six months,” he said.

“This tragedy will definitely be around and talked about for months and maybe years to come. This community is strong enough that we are going to change that vision.

“We need to make sure when we come out of this, we’re not known for eight people passing away, mom and her son and students and a teacher and the shooter taking their own life… We need to make sure the world realizes it’s not that tragedy that marks what Tumbler Ridge is about.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that RCMP in the region use Pacific time, but the community uses Mountain time.

The town of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., is in mourning after eight people, as well as the shooter, were killed in a mass shooting Tuesday at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and a nearby residence.

“We are thinking of the community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, following today’s tragic events. Our hearts are with the victims, their families, and all those affected. We are grateful to everyone supporting the community during this difficult time,” the RCMP said in a post on social media late Tuesday evening.

Tuesday’s mass shooting is one of the worst in Canadian history.

Here’s what we know about how the attack unfolded based on information provided by RCMP, B.C. government officials and Emergency Health Services.

2:20 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. local time
The RCMP sent out an emergency alert and placed the entire Tumbler Ridge community of just over 2,000 people under lockdown at 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, which is 2:20 p.m. mountain time and local time, shortly after receiving reports of an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.

That’s roughly 4:20 p.m. eastern time.

“Those in the Tumbler Ridge area are asked to stay inside (shelter in place), lock your doors and refrain from leaving your home or business at this time. All others need to avoid the area and follow police directions and restrictions,” the RCMP said in the alert.

At 2:22 p.m. local time, officers arrived at the scene, which was also confirmed by Nina Kriger, B.C.’s minister of public safety and solicitor general, in a statement late Tuesday evening.

Police were called again at 2:47 p.m. local time after a “young female” alerted a neighbour. RCMP would later confirm that two people were found dead in a home.

At 2:50 p.m. local time, the local school district posted on its website that it was aware of the situation at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and that the affiliated elementary school nearby was also placed under lockdown.

“The District is aware of a lockdown and secure and hold at Tumbler Ridge Secondary and Tumbler Ridge Elementary schools. We are asking people to have patience as we work with the RCMP,” said School District 59 – Peace River South.

3:15 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. local time
Around 3:15 p.m. local time, an emergency alert was sent to the phones of residents of Tumbler Ridge. It warned of a suspect “described as female in a dress with brown hair.” Residents were told to shelter in place.

At 4:16 p.m. local time, RCMP for B.C.’s Lower Mainland District issued a press release saying police were on the “scene of a confirmed active shooter incident at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.” They say the “original suspect” is believed dead but they are determining if a second suspect is involved.

The active shooter alert was lifted by officials at approximately 5:45 p.m. Pacific time, or 6:45 p.m. local mountain time and roughly 8:45 p.m. eastern, who said they “do not believe there were any outstanding suspects or ongoing threats to the public.”

At 6:50 p.m. mountain time (8:50 p.m. eastern time), Tumbler Ridge district school officials provided an update on its website.

“The Active Alert was cancelled by the RCMP at 6:45 p.m. [local time] ending the lockdown and secure and hold at Tumbler Ridge Secondary and Tumbler Ridge Elementary Schools,” said School District 59 – Peace River South.

7:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. local time
The RCMP for B.C.’s Lower Mainland District put out an updated release at 7:00 p.m. mountain time detailing how officers responded and what they discovered after arriving at the scene of the shooting and commencing a search shortly after.

Officers located six victims, not including the shooter, dead inside the school, according to the RCMP’s release.

Officers also located the shooter, dead from what was believed to be a self-inflicted injury.

Two victims were airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.

Twenty-five others with non-life-threatening injuries were also assessed and triaged at a local medical centre, according to the RCMP’s release, adding that all remaining students and staff were safely evacuated.

The release also mentioned there were two more victims found deceased in a residence that RCMP said is believed to be connected to the attack at the school.

After discovering the other deceased individuals, RCMP began searching additional homes and properties for any other casualties that may be linked, according to the release.

Police also said in the release that they were working closely with the school district to support a co-ordinated reunification process for families.

RCMP said they began deploying additional resources into the Tumbler Ridge community to support the response and investigation, including front-line officers, emergency response teams, B.C.’s RCMP major crime unit and victim services.

Major crime also began conducting an investigation to determine the full circumstances of what led to the incident, according to the release.

“This was a rapidly evolving and dynamic situation, and the swift cooperation from the school, first responders, and the community played a critical role in our response,” RCMP Supt. Ken Floyd said in the updated police release post Tuesday evening.

“Our thoughts are with the families, loved ones, and all those impacted by this tragic incident. This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.”

At 7:45 p.m. mountain time, Floyd said to reporters that police are “not in a place” to understand the shooter’s motivations. He confirmed the deceased shooter is the same person described in the alert.

Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on social media at 10:54 p.m. eastern time, which is 8:54 p.m. mountain time, saying he is “devastated by today’s [Tuesday’s] horrific shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence.”

B.C. Premier David Eby said late Tuesday, “We can’t imagine what the [Tumbler Ridge] community is going through, but I know it’s causing us all to hug our kids a little bit tighter tonight.”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to ask British Columbians, to ask all Canadians to wrap the people of Tumbler Ridge, wrap these families with love, not just tonight, but tomorrow and into the future,” he said.

Carney also announced Wednesday morning that flags will fly at half-mast for seven days at all federal government buildings.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa Wednesday morning outside the Liberal caucus, Carney said, “It’s obviously a very difficult day for the nation.”

“This morning, parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you,” he said.

A picture of the troubled life of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar is emerging, with a court ruling depicting her family’s “nomadic lifestyle” and a gaming company removing her account, which was used to create a shopping mall massacre simulation.

Online platform Roblox said in a statement Thursday that it had removed the account “connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect.”

Videos of the “gaming experience” that have been shared on social media show a character running around a mall, picking up guns and shooting other characters.

Roblox says it’s committed to “fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation.”

Police have said they made multiple visits for mental health concerns to the split-level home in Tumbler Ridge that Van Rootselaar shared with her mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and 11-year-old stepbrother, Emmett Jacobs.

RCMP say Van Rootselaar killed them both in the family home before continuing her killing spree at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where she shot dead a teacher’s aide and five children.

A 2015 B.C. Supreme Court decision in a dispute between the shooter’s parents describes Jennifer Jacobs, moving with her children between Newfoundland and Labrador, Grand Cache in Alberta and Powell River, B.C., in the previous five years.

Jacobs, also known as Jennifer Strang, was found to have engaged in “reprehensible conduct” by failing to give her children’s father enough notice that she was moving back to Newfoundland in August 2015.

She was ordered to return their children to B.C.

Police investigators in white protective suits were working Thursday at the Tumbler Ridge home where the killings began.

Outside the home, there were signs of the lives erased, blue bins and a pickup truck in the driveway.

In the snowy front yard lay a bicycle, tangled in yellow police tape.

In the court ruling, Justice Anthony Saunders blames Jennifer Jacobs’ “nomadic lifestyle” for Justin Jan Vanrootselaar not having vigorously pursued his parental rights. The court spells the father’s surname without the space.

“Ms. Strang acknowledges in her affidavit that there have been at least months at a time when Mr. Vanrootselaar has had no idea where the children have been,” Saunders notes.

Strang is described in the court documents as being pregnant with a child due in January 2016. Her existing children, Saunders’ ruling says, had had “no personal contact” with their father at the time of the ruling, although they were beginning to have phone contact.

Jennifer Jacobs’ Facebook account lists her hometown as Lawn, N.L.

In that small community of about 600 near the coast of the French islands of St. Pierre-Miquelon and about a 400-kilometre drive west of St. John’s, she is remembered as an occasional visitor.

Resident Doris Strang is unrelated but says Jennifer Strang used to visit from B.C. when her grandmother was still alive, never staying for very long.

“It’s a tragedy,” Doris Strang said in an interview Thursday. “It’s affected a lot of people in this little town … (people) are just outraged about it, that this could happen, and it could have been worse.”

According to a 2018 post on her social media, Jennifer Strang had five children. She was featured in a 2023 article from the northeast B.C. news site Energeticcity.ca, urging parents to push for better health care.

The article was published after a nurse said Strang’s then-seven-year-old son had a stomach bug that turned out to be appendicitis.

Strang’s Facebook profile says she worked for Tumbler Ridge coal mining company Conuma Resources. Her friend list includes numerous residents of both Lawn and Tumbler Ridge.

They include Cia Edmonds, the mother of 12-year-old Maya Gebala who was shot by Van Rootselaar and is gravely injured in BC Children’s Hospital.

Police have said Van Rootselaar chose her victims at the school at random.

Jesse Van Rootselaar had a troubled history and mental health issues, recently calling violent online content ‘addictive’

Jesse Van Rootselaar grew up moving between provinces, her life marked by court battles and a troubled history with mental health. By the time she turned 18, she had access to firearms in the northeastern community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C. — a failure, critics say, of Canada’s firearms licensing system.

On Tuesday, RCMP say the 18-year-old went on a shooting rampage, targeting students and relatives at both her home and a local high school, killing nine people, including her mother, stepbrother and herself. Authorities recovered a long gun and a modified handgun at the scene.

The mountain-surrounded town of roughly 2,400 residents is small and heavily tied to hunting and outdoor life. Brian Landry, an RCMP-certified firearms instructor who works with residents in Tumbler Ridge, Dawson Creek and surrounding areas, said the system “failed” in Van Rootselaar’s case.

“An individual with mental illness slipped through the cracks. This person should have never been in a place where they had access to firearms,” Landry said.

In Canada, youth aged 12 to 17 can apply for a minor’s firearms licence with parental consent, personal references and a medical background check. This allows them to borrow non-restricted firearms for approved purposes such as target practice and hunting, which are commonplace in B.C.’s rural towns. At age 18, licence holders must reapply for a standard possession and acquisition licence.

RCMP say Van Rootselaar had a firearms licence that expired in 2024. Authorities said officers had been called to the family’s home repeatedly over the years for mental health concerns. More than once, police apprehended Van Rootselaar for assessment under the province’s Mental Health Act.

Two years ago, police seized firearms in the home under the Criminal Code, but they were later returned to the lawful owner following a petition. The last police visit, in spring 2025, was in response to concerns about the suspect’s mental health and possibility of self-harm.

“Where the shooter lived, if she had documented mental health issues, there should have never been firearms in the home,” Landry said.

Landry described security requirements taught during the eight-hour firearms possession course: guns must be stored in a locked safe, with keys kept inaccessible to just anyone. If not, others living in the residence are legally considered to have access.

Van Rootselaar’s passion for firearms was shared by her mother, Jennifer Strang, 39.

“Think it’s time to take them out for some target practice,” the mother captioned a 2024 Facebook photo of multiple rifles in a hunting box.

Years earlier, Strang — who was one of Van Rootselaar’s shooting victims — encouraged Facebook friends to follow the page in a July 2021 post, noting the child “posts about hunting, self-reliance, guns and stuff.” Archived copies of the now-deleted account showed videos of Van Rootselaar practicing shooting a tactical 12-gauge shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle at a range. The account’s profile description last read: “None of this makes sense.”

Another of Van Rootselaar’s social media profiles, a TikTok account that is now private, reposted several videos of 2023 Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale.

U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism said Thursday in a preliminary investigation that it found that Van Rootselaar “followed a troubling pattern of online radicalization marked by engagement with violence and gore content.”

The centre identified an X account it believes belonged to the shooter, which shared content celebrating a 2022 Buffalo supermarket mass shooting and the 2019 attack on the Christchurch mosque in New Zealand. It also reported Van Rootselaar was active on WatchPeopleDie, a forum that hosts videos of people being maimed or killed.

In a post to the forum this year, Van Rootselaar called violent content “addictive.”

“I’ve tried to stray away from watching this type of thing before cuz it really sucks me in and is a massive useless time dump,” the post read. “To say it ‘doesn’t (a)ffect me’ is likely naive.”

Landry said the Canadian Firearms Program, run by the RCMP, has strict laws in place to prevent people with documented interactions with police over mental health concerns from possessing or having access to firearms.

“Everyone with a firearms licence is monitored by being run through federal screening every 24 hours,” Landry said, noting he has held his firearms possession licence since 1995.

“I’ve known cases where someone gets a criminal record, and their license is immediately revoked, along with their spouse being sent a letter ordering them to remove all the guns from the house,” he said.

He added that only members of the RCMP and the army can legally possess a modified firearm, such as the handgun recovered in the attack.

In rural communities such as Tumbler Ridge, Landry said not having a gun license is the exception, as firearms are common for hunting, protecting livestock and outdoor life. There is a single gun club in town, the Tumbler Ridge Sportsmen’s Association.

“Guns are not the problem. They do not have a mind of their own. They cannot get up and kill people. It’s the wrong people who get access to them,” he said. “There is simply not enough mental health resources in rural communities like ours to help people with such issues.”

Speaking from Tumbler Ridge on Wednesday night and fighting back tears, B.C. Premier David Eby promised he “will get answers to all questions” about Van Rootselaar’s interactions with police and mental health services, including why weapons were taken from the family home and later returned. Eby said he would use all avenues of investigation to answer every question raised by the killing.

The suspect, a transgender woman, began transitioning six years ago and dropped out of school four years ago, RCMP said.

Van Rootselaar and her siblings lived a “nomadic lifestyle,” moving between Newfoundland, Grand Cache and Powell River for years after Strang separated from the suspect’s father in 2009, court records show.

“It can hardly be the case that the children are tied in any meaningful sense to that one location,” Justice Anthony Saunders wrote in a 2015 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that found that Strang had moved the children to Newfoundland without giving the father the legally required notice.

The ruling ordered the mother to allow the children regular phone contact with their father, who had been trying to build a relationship. Strang said she moved the family to Newfoundland to be close to family support while pregnant.

The shooter’s YouTube account profile image featured a female anime character and a rifle set against a pink-and-white-striped background

In a YouTube post six months ago, Jesse Van Rootselaar wrote: “I’ve been pretty um, aimless.”

The now-deleted channel’s description read: “None of this makes sense.”

The account’s profile image featured a female anime character and a rifle set against a pink-and-white-striped background.

Rootselaar, 18, was identified Wednesday as the person behind a mass shooting that killed eight people Tuesday in the rural northeastern B.C. community of Tumbler Ridge, RCMP confirmed. It was one of the deadliest shootings in Canadian history.

Four years ago, Van Rootselaar’s mother, Jennifer Strang, promoted the teenager’s YouTube channel in a Facebook post, noting that her child “posts about hunting, self-reliance, guns.”

By Wednesday afternoon, the profile had been removed for violating the platform’s community guidelines.

A TikTok account using the same profile image, under the username “jessestrangg,” reposted multiple videos of 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who in March 2023 shot and killed six students after opening fire at a Christian school in Nashville.

The motive for the shooting this week in Tumbler Ridge remains under investigation.

Police investigators believe the shooter first killed her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a home at 112 Fellers Ave., before travelling to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and launching a second attack. Police said a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old female students and two male students ages 12 and 13 were killed. Two other victims were airlifted to the hospital for emergency care.

Authorities said officers had been called to the shooter’s home repeatedly over the years.

“Police had attended that residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect,” said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald.

During one of those visits, “firearms were seized,” McDonald said. They were eventually returned to the lawful owner following a petition. More than once, police apprehended Van Rootselaar for assessment under the province’s Mental Health Act.

The last police visit, in the spring, was in response to concerns about the suspect’s mental health and self-harm.

Van Rootselaar, who dropped out of school four years ago, wasn’t related to any of the school victims, McDonald said.

She was assigned male at birth but began transitioning six years ago, he added.

In August 2020, Strang was tagged in a birthday post recounting Jesse’s 13th birthday celebration, which included a photograph of the teen holding two cakes.

Police believe Van Rootselaar opened fire at the Fellers Avenue residence on Tuesday before doing the same at Tumbler Ridge Secondary.

Police arrived at the high school at about 1:20 p.m. while bullets were still being fired. Some rounds were shot in their direction. Within minutes, officers found Van Rootselaar dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Authorities recovered a long gun and a modified handgun. McDonald said that the suspect’s firearms licence expired in 2024. She didn’t have any guns registered to her during the time of the shooting.

Most of the victims killed within the high school were found in the library. One was found in the stairwell, McDonald said. More than 25 people were triaged for possible injuries, with the majority being unharmed.

Police said they weren’t informed about the scene at the home until about 1:47 p.m., after the school shooting, when a resident called 911.

“There was a young female at that home that went to the neighbour’s — that’s how we learned that there were two deceased at that residence,” McDonald said.

Fingerprint expert, pathologist are final prosecution witnesses in Janson Baker’s trial

Crown prosecutors in Moncton have finished presenting evidence in Janson Baker’s trial on two counts of first-degree murder.

Baker is accused of killing 74-year-old Rose-Marie Saulnier and her husband, 78-year-old Bernard Saulnier, in Dieppe on Sept. 7, 2019.

The Crown alleges the 29-year-old was directed by a drug-trafficking network to find and kill the couple’s son, Sylvio Saulnier, over a rift that had developed. Instead, it’s alleged Baker killed Sylvio’s parents.

The final prosecution witness in the trial, which began at the start of January, was a forensic pathologist who carried out autopsies on the couple.

Dr. Ken Obenson testified each had been shot in the head and this caused their deaths.

Obenson testified Bernard Saulnier had an entrance wound by his left eye near the nose. The bullet went through his skull, exiting behind his left ear.

He said the bullet left a bruise on his left shoulder. The bullet was found in his clothing during the autopsy and entered as an exhibit earlier in the trial.

Obenson testified Rose-Marie Saulnier was shot near her right ear, and the bullet exited near her left temple.

Baker’s defence lawyer, Brian Munro asked the pathologist questions about how far away the shots would have been fired.

Obenson said stippling, gunshot residue around the entrance wounds, suggest they were shot from a distance of two to four feet, or about 0.6 metres to 1.2 metres.

The second-last Crown witness was RCMP Sgt. Louis Bédard. The forensics officer, who was qualified to give expert testimony about fingerprint comparison, testified he examined a fingerprint on a CD. The CD was found in the entertainment system of a grey Hyundai Sonata.

Witnesses have testified that a Sonata was captured on surveillance video near the Saulnier home the night they died. Zachery Trevors testified he was with Baker who drove a Sonata to the Saulnier home.

Bédard testified he compared the print on the CD to Baker’s prints police had collected during an arrest.

Crown prosecutor Brad Burgess asked Bédard if it was “fair to say, in plain English, that both these prints belong to Janson Baker?”

“Yes,” Bédard said.

Following the testimony Thursday, Justice Cameron Gunn asked if the Crown would be calling any other witnesses.

“No, Mr. Justice, that’s the case for the Crown,” Burgess said.

Gunn told the 14 jurors that now it would be up to the defence to decide whether to present evidence. Munro said he would be discussing this with Baker over the long weekend.

Jurors were told to return to court Tuesday morning.

All 4 studied engineering or science at Western University

Three men and one woman who are currently attending, or are alumni of, Western University face a slew of charges alleging — among other things — that they were storing chemicals that could be made into explosives at a house just west of campus in London, Ont.

“This is usually a pretty quiet neighbourhood. Nothing too exciting happens here,” said area resident Vivette Martin, after police taped off the beige corner house at 212 Chesham Pl. last Tuesday. “Everyone’s just been very curious as to what’s going on.”

All four received additional charges on Monday, including the manufacturing of a gun. Here’s what else we know about them:

Jerry Tong

The oldest of the accused, 27-year-old Jerry Tong, is the only one who doesn’t live in London.

Police and court records have linked him to Ottawa and to a house in Gatineau, Que., respectively, and the case has seen search warrants issued for locations in both cities.

According to a LinkedIn profile that matches Tong’s name and appearance, he got an engineering degree at Western in 2022.

He stayed in London for another year, working as a wealth adviser at National Bank Financial, which a company spokesperson confirmed.

The profile says he then moved to Ottawa to work as an investment adviser for another company until 2025. Tong faces the following 11 charges:
Carrying a concealed weapon.
Careless use of a firearm.
Possessing a loaded regulated firearm.
Resisting arrest.
Breaking and entering with intent.
Occupying a motor vehicle with a firearm.
Possessing an explosive substance.
Storing a restricted weapon in a careless manner.
Possessing a prohibited firearm.
Possessing a loaded firearm at the residence.
Manufacturing a prohibited firearm.

Fei (Frank) Han

Fei (Frank) Han, 25, appeared in a virtual bail hearing on Monday wearing the same black, square glasses frames as seen in Facebook and LinkedIn pictures that match the accused’s name and general appearance.

Those photos include one of a smiling young man wearing a Queen’s Rocket Engineering Team (QRET) hoodie while holding a bright orange rocket.

After completing an undergraduate degree at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., Han continued his education at Western where he pursued a master of engineering, according to the LinkedIn profile.

He was an active member of rocketry teams at both schools, it says, participating in the Western Engineering Rocketry Team from 2023-24 and on QRET for five years before that.

CBC News reached out to both teams for comment, but Western’s did not respond and the Queen’s team declined to comment.

Han is one of three accused who live at 212 Chesham Pl. He is charged with the following:
Unlawful possession of explosives, including several precursor substances and finished high explosives.
Storing a restricted weapon in a careless manner.
Possessing a prohibited firearm.
Possessing a loaded firearm at the residence.
Manufacturing a prohibited firearm.

Zekun Wang

Also listed by police and court documents as living at the house on Chesham, 26-year-old Zekun Wang is currently on Western’s student directory as a graduate student — and convocation programs show that he has graduated with both a master of engineering science and bachelor of science.

While doing his undergraduate degree, he spent a year with a research group called the Multiscale Deformation Lab within Western’s Spencer Engineering Building, according to an entry on the lab’s website which has since been deleted.

Wang faces the following seven charges:
Breaking and entering with intent.
Occupying a motor vehicle with a firearm.
Possessing an explosive substance.
Storing a restricted weapon in a careless manner.
Possessing a prohibited firearm.
Possessing a loaded firearm at the residence.
Manufacturing a prohibited firearm.

Feiyang (Astrid) Ji

The only woman charged, 21-year-old Feiyang (Astrid) Ji, is the biggest mystery of all.

Ji’s name appears on the Western student directory listed as a faculty of science student. An otherwise-empty LinkedIn profile matching her name says she is set to graduate in 2027.

She is accused of the following:
Unlawful possession of explosives, including several precursor substances and finished high explosives.
Storing a restricted weapon in a careless manner.
Possessing a prohibited firearm.
Possessing a loaded firearm at the residence.
Manufacturing a prohibited firearm.

‘It is evident that the passage of time has not numbed the pain you have caused,’ says parole board

Convicted murderer Malcolm Cuff has been granted six months of day parole, despite opposition from the police and loved ones of the two women he killed.

Cuff’s Correctional Service of Canada case management team recommended day parole as the next step in Cuff’s gradual reintegration, and in a Jan. 20, 2026 decision, the Parole Board of Canada agreed.

However, it imposed special conditions it said were necessary to protect the public and the victims’ families.

Cuff, 66, of Corner Brook, is serving a life sentence on the mainland for the 1983 killing of 20-year-old Marilyn Ann Newman. Newman was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered.

Cuff’s accomplice, Robert Durnford, was granted full parole in 2008 and died four years later.

Cuff was also sentenced in 2000 to 14 years for manslaughter in the 1979 death of 16-year-old Janet Louvelle. He maintained her death was accidental until a parole board hearing in 2012, when he admitted he had killed her in anger.

ON THE PATH TO BECOMING A SERIAL KILLER

In its recent decision, the parole board noted Cuff said he had previously been “a loose cannon,” consumed by anger from past sexual trauma, selfish, preoccupied with sex, out of control, and feeling society owed him something.

He described himself as becoming “numb” after killing Louvelle, and shared that he had drawn up a list of people to kill before he murdered Newman.

He conceded to the board that he had been on the path to becoming a serial killer.

He told the board that rejection over the years made him feel inferior, and he wanted to “get even” and make the community suffer.

“All told, it is very unsettling that the murder in 1979 did not cause you to reflect on your behaviour; rather, it seems to have emboldened you, as after approximately four years, you returned to the same offence type,” the board wrote, adding that Cuff failed to explain why rejection had led him to kill.

LOVED ONES DETAIL THEIR ENDURING PAIN

As they have done consistently over the years, loved ones of Louvelle and Newman opposed Cuff’s day parole. They told the hearing they continue to suffer anguish, anxiety, depression and lasting grief, and expressed frustration at having to repeatedly submit victim statements and live in fear of his release.

“It is evident that the passage of time has not numbed the pain you have caused,” the board told Cuff.

Police in the area where Cuff will reside — its name redacted from the decision — did not support his request for release, deeming him a danger to the public and pointing out he has no ties to the community.

The board noted ongoing concerns in areas including marital/family, emotional and community functioning, and said Cuff had been assessed on a psychological risk assessment as a below-average risk for sexual offences and low to low-moderate risk for further violent or general offences — which it considered relatively high.

The board concluded that Cuff’s risk could be managed in the community with support, given his insight and treatment when it comes to his mental health issues; engagement in programming; his mostly positive institutional behaviour, and his successful completed temporary absences.

CUFF’S RISK CAN BE MANAGED IN THE COMMUNITY

“You took full responsibility for the index offences, which you described as brutal and horrific. You expressed deep remorse for killing two young females who did not in any way deserve what you did to them and their families,” it continued, stating Cuff showed some understanding of the harm he caused the victims’ loved ones.

“You stated you owe it to the victims’ memory never to return to the dark place you were at when you committed those offences, and to live life as a good person.

“It is the board’s opinion that you will not present an undue risk to society if released, and that your release will contribute to the protection of society by facilitating your reintegration into society as a law-abiding citizen.”

Cuff will live at a community-based residential facility, and plans to seek work in the automotive field. He has no leave privileges and must return to the facility every night.

He must report to his parole supervisor all relationships with females and attempts to initiate them; disclose all relationships with people responsible for children; avoid all contact with Newman’s and Louvelle’s families; follow treatment plans to address violence, aggression, sexual offending, emotion management and boundaries; work with a mental health professional, and have no contact or association with anyone involved in criminal activity.

A former Ottawa woman convicted of manslaughter in the death of her five-year-old daughter at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic has been sentenced to 10 years in prison minus some time already spent in custody — marking the end of a chapter in the strange, brief and tragic saga of Chloe Guan-Branch’s life.

In the spring of 2020, Chloe desperately needed medical care to save her life. Her bladder had somehow ruptured in her Ottawa apartment on May 9, and her body’s waste was slowly leaking into her bloodstream, poisoning her.

For six days, her mother Ada Guan and Guan’s boyfriend Justin Cassie-Berube did not get Chloe the help she needed. They searched online about her increasingly dire symptoms and Guan consulted a pharmacist, but they never took the girl to a doctor — even as she lost the ability to walk, became incontinent, vomited repeatedly and was groaning in pain.

In a case like this one, where a vulnerable child is essentially left to die … the sentence must reflect society’s response to this kind of malignant neglect by a parent of a child.
-Ottawa Superior Court Justice Anne London-Weinstein

Court heard they were worried that taking Chloe to hospital would alert officials to the physical abuse she’d been enduring at the hands of Cassie-Berube, including a strike to Chloe’s mouth on her fifth birthday, May 10, that split the skin under her lip.

The girl whose birth on a plane had made international headlines five years earlier died alone in her room on May 15, 2020, in her soiled bed, as Guan watched TV in the living room and Cassie-Berube was out.

Wednesday’s sentence by Superior Court Justice Anne London-Weinstein comes 17 months after Guan, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

After the plea she remained out on bail, and in September she was arrested in Calgary and jailed in Ottawa after repeatedly neglecting to show up in court ahead of sentencing.

Guan pleaded guilty to failing to attend court, in addition to the manslaughter. The Crown and defence jointly proposed that she should receive an additional month in prison for the failure to attend, but they were far apart on their recommendations for the manslaughter charge.

Assistant Crown attorney Khorshid Rad called for an 11- to 12-year sentence, while defence lawyer Diane Magas asked for three to six years, saying Guan had been the victim of emotional abuse and controlling behaviour in previous relationships, including with Cassie-Berube.

Rad acknowledged the relationship dynamic should be taken into consideration, but argued it should be weighed against the number of days Chloe was left to suffer. Guan’s failure to act became an increasingly aggravating circumstance “every day Chloe gets weaker,” Rad said during sentencing submissions in December, adding that Guan’s moral blameworthiness is “very high.”

London-Weinstein echoed the Crown’s position in her ruling.

“In a case like this one, where a vulnerable child is essentially left to die … the sentence must reflect society’s response to this kind of malignant neglect by a parent of a child,” the judge said.

Ex-boyfriend convicted, sentenced 2 years ago
In 2024, a different judge found Cassie-Berube guilty of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death, failing to provide the necessaries of life, assault causing bodily harm and assault, all involving Chloe.

He was handed a 14-year prison sentence for what the judge called a “shocking example of abuse.”

Not long after the Crown’s successful prosecution on all the charges Cassie-Berube faced, Guan and her lawyer Diane Magas struck a plea deal. Guan was facing many of the same charges, and in exchange for a guilty plea to manslaughter the other charges have been dropped.

During sentencing submissions last month the Crown read a long, impassioned victim impact statement from Guan and Cassie-Berube’s next door neighbour. Crystal James interacted with Chloe in their apartment building’s hallway, giving her small gifts and treats. She sometimes noticed bruises and swelling, as well as her quiet, timid manner.

I cannot believe that anyone who has touched this case has walked away unmarred. Irrevocably I am changed.
-Crystal James, former neighbour

“I imagine [Chloe] laying in pain in that apartment, maybe wondering why her neighbour didn’t come save her … her imagined whisper plays in a loop in my mind,” James wrote. She switched apartments but it wasn’t far enough, and she ended up moving from Ottawa entirely.

“I cannot believe that anyone who has touched this case has walked away unmarred. Irrevocably I am changed,” she wrote. But she’s also grateful she got to know Chloe, however briefly.

Guan also read a statement in court, saying she “deeply regretted everything that I didn’t do.”

“I should have known better when I first saw the signs. For this, I do not deserve to be her mom — not in the past, present or future…. If I had another chance to tell you how sorry I am and show you how much I love you and be able to hug you again, I would do anything for that chance,” she said.

Looking up from her written decision and directly into Guan’s eyes on Wednesday, London-Weinstein said the violation of the absolute trust Chloe placed in her mother was one of the “extremely aggravating factors” in the case.

However, the judge also found that Guan’s history of emotionally abusive and controlling relationships contributed to her inaction. It wasn’t an excuse for failing to act, London-Weinstein said, but it was part of the equation.

On Wednesday, Guan was quiet and still in the prisoner’s box as the sentence was being read.

She has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the sentence, which works out to about nine and a half years including credit for the time she’s already served in jail.

Janson Bryan Baker, 29, scheduled to stand trial over 3 months in Moncton

A jury was selected Saturday in Moncton for the trial of a 29-year-old accused of killing a Dieppe couple in 2019.

Janson Bryan Baker, 29, is being tried on two charges of first-degree murder. It’s alleged the Moncton man killed Bernard Saulnier, 78, and his wife Rose-Marie Saulnier, 74, on Sept. 7, 2019 in Dieppe.

Baker formally pleaded not guilty to the charges Saturday morning as jury selection began. Selection continued through the day and was completed just after 7 p.m.

The Crown’s opening statement is expected Tuesday morning, offering an overview of the evidence jurors are expected to hear as the trial unfolds.

The Saulniers’ deaths shocked community members and led to questions about the status of the case over the following years as police continued to investigate with little said publicly.

Baker was charged in September 2023, the fourth anniversary of the discovery of the Saulniers’ bodies in their Amirault Street home. Their cause of death hasn’t been released.

Rose-Marie Saulnier owned Natural Choice Health Centre in Dieppe and later worked as a nutritionist, herbalist and naturotherapist at Sequoia Dieppe.

Bernard Saulnier was a past president of Acadia Electric and was involved with the Dieppe Rotary Club and a New Brunswick construction association, according to his obituary.

The couple had two sons, Sylvio Saulnier and Luc Saulnier.

Sylvio died in 2023. Police say his death was not criminal in nature.

A standard publication ban prevents reporting much of what’s occurred in court over the years leading up to the trial.

The trial is scheduled for three months.

1,000 summonses sent
Jury summonses were sent to 1,000 people, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Justice.

Jury selection on a Saturday is not common but has happened before in Moncton.

“Holding the selection on a Saturday, while not typical, allows use of the secure courthouse, gather larger groups in multiple courtrooms, utilize existing technology, and facilitate parking,” Geoffrey Downey said in an email.

“It also enables us to bring in additional personnel without impacting weekday operations.”

4 courtrooms with potential jurors
Hundreds of people filled benches in four courtrooms linked by audio and video as jury selection began.

After randomizing the order, the main courtroom was cleared and potential jurors were called in to answer questions. A publication ban prohibits reporting details of their answers.

Lawyers asked for the jury to include more than the usual 12 people. Sixteen people were selected, including two alternates.

Justice Cameron Gunn, who normally sits in Woodstock, N.B., is presiding over the trial.

Baker is represented by Saint John defence lawyer Brian Munro.

James McConnell, Bradley Burgess and Victoria Quirk are prosecuting the case for the Crown.

First-degree murder, the charges Baker faces, involve a homicide that’s planned and deliberate. Conviction results in an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

Band’s financial clerk misappropriated $4.3 million over four-year period

A Bible Hill woman who defrauded her former employer, the Millbrook First Nation, of more than $4.3 million has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.

Dawn Marie Ellis-Abbott, 45, pleaded guilty last June in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Truro to a charge of fraud over $5,000.

The offence was committed over a four-year period between January 2016 and December 2019, while Ellis-Abbott was a financial clerk at the Millbrook band office.

Ellis-Abbott was sentenced Friday by Justice Jeffrey Hunt, who echoed the Crown and defence lawyers’ comments in describing the size of the fraud as “staggering.”

“While sentencings for the offence of fraud are not in and of themselves rare or unusual, sentencings involving a magnitude of loss experienced here are relatively uncommon,” Hunt said. “This was a large-scale fraud by any measure.

“These funds were converted to her own selfish use. I’m told that nothing has been recovered and, somewhat surprisingly, there are no available assets against which immediate recovery is thought to be possible.”

Counsel agreed the sentence for the offence should be in the range of 3.5 to 5.5 years. Crown attorney Shauna MacDonald called for a sentence at the high end of that range, while defence lawyer Alfie Seaman argued for a prison term at the low end.

“It is evident that a significant custodial sentence is required for Ms. Ellis-Abbott,” Hunt said.

“It is the order of the court that you will serve a period of 4.5 years. In my view, this sentence is required to reflect the gravity of the offence and your moral blameworthiness in all the circumstances.

“I should add that but for your change of plea and your acceptance of responsibility, you were at risk that this sentence would have been a different one.”

The judge said he would recommend that the Nova Institution for Women, the federal prison in Truro, provide culturally sensitive resources and programming to Ellis-Abbott, who is Indigenous and a member of the First Nation that she defrauded.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Ellis-Abbott was employed with the band from 2003 until she was terminated in December 2019. She had assumed additional responsibilities from the band’s chief financial officer in anticipation of taking over his position when he retired.

Along with preparing financial documents, working with the band’s auditors and dealing with band councillors, Ellis-Abbott was responsible for the everyday accounting of the bank accounts for Millbrook Fisheries and the Millbrook Economic Development Corp.

Ellis-Abbott’s annual salary was $59,509 as of December 2019. In addition, Millbrook band members received a $1,250 payment twice a year, in June and November, usually via an electronic payment.

She owned High Maintenance Hair Salon in Bible Hill. Her sister managed and worked in the salon.

The facts say Ellis-Abbott got into the business after being approached by her sister and her sister’s business partner “to help with their failing salon.”

Ellis-Abbott also had expenses associated with 36 horses that were owned by her family.

Between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2019, Ellis-Abbott defrauded the band of $4,380,986 through various means, the statement says.

During that time period, she had a corporate credit card in her name that was supposed to be used only for Millbrook business purposes. Instead, she used the card to incur $2,927,529 in charges for personal transactions.

The transactions with the RBC Visa card included $717,071 in cash advances and payments of $339,749 to a plumbing and heating company, $169,409 to Amazon, $106,122 to Maritime Beauty, $106,112 to Home Hardware and $102,275 to Wayfair.

She also used the credit card to pay for saddles, veterinary expenses, other horse-related bills, automobiles, utility bills, fencing, insurance, roofing, waste collection, hotels, travel, entertainment, auto detailing, tattoos and shopping.

Payments made on the card came directly from the band via RBC banking transfers and 80 cheques from the Millbrook Fisheries and Millbrook Economic Development Corp. accounts.

In addition, Ellis-Abbott received 227 cheques totalling $1,068,330 from the Millbrook Fisheries account. Signatures were forged on 218 of the cheques.

“Each cheque required two signatures of individuals with signing authority,” the facts read. “Ms. Ellis-Abbott did not have sole signing authority.”

During the same time period, she received $261,240 in 66 cheques that were made payable to her from the economic development corporation. Signatures were forged on all 66 cheques.

Between March 2019 and November 2019, Ellis-Abbott made 12 e-transfers from the fisheries account and the band’s administrative account to her personal account, the High Maintenance business account, a contracting company and to buy horses. The unauthorized e-transfers came to a total of $121,586.

In February 2016, Ellis-Abbott used a Millbrook Fisheries cheque to pay a $2,300 invoice from a paving company for patching of the hair salon’s parking lot.

On top of the funds that were fraudulently acquired, the band authorized loans to Ellis-Abbott, and $68,827 of that money was never repaid.

RCMP opened an investigation in late 2019 and announced in April 2023 that Ellis-Abbott had been charged with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and possession of more than $5,000 in property that was obtained by crime.

The band filed a civil action against Ellis-Abbott in Supreme Court and was successful in obtaining a partial summary judgment in March 2023 for $3,209,909, plus $849,584 in prejudgment interest.

MacDonald, in her submissions Friday, said the fraud was not a “one-time exercise of bad judgment.”

“This is almost a daily occurrence of accessing funds that she was not entitled to,” the prosecutor said. “This was sustained, prolonged bad judgment for Ms. Ellis-Abbott. The amount of money involved here is staggering.”

MacDonald noted that the money misappropriated by Ellis-Abbott was 73 times her yearly salary.

Three band members submitted community impact statements for the sentencing hearing.

“It’s not a surprise that the band and members of the community would say that they are not able to do things that they would otherwise have been able to do,” MacDonald said.

“It is not a surprise either that members of the band who work in the financial areas of the band would say … that there’s a distrust now, because all of this money was misappropriated. … Community members look to those that work in the financial office and say, ‘Is this how you run things?’

“That distrust was obviously bred by Ms. Ellis-Abbott. … Understandably, the other community members who were working alongside her feel that they have been taken in or subsumed by this fraud.”

Defence lawyer Alfie Seaman said his client wanted to plead guilty quite a while ago, but the plea was delayed because of changes in counsel that were beyond her control.

“We are probably a year or so later than we should have been,” Seaman said. “It’s no one’s fault, but I do apologize to the Millbrook community. I’m sure they wanted to see closure long before this.”

Ellis-Abbott told the author of a Gladue report – a special kind of presentence report prepared for Indigenous offenders – that she developed a shopping addiction when she was about 34 years old and was having mental health and matrimonial issues.

The report said Ellis-Abbott began therapy sessions in 2025 and has gained insight into her conduct, is making progress in dealing with her mental health issues and is taking medication for anxiety.

“Dawn is focused on moving forward from this period in her life and preparing for the challenges ahead,” the report said. “She acknowledges the wrongs she has made and the impact this has had on community members, (and) has expressed remorse.”

In a letter to the court, Ellis-Abbott said: “To this day, I can’t even imagine acting like this. I don’t recognize this person.”

She said she is confident that she is going to come out of this better than she was before.

Besides the prison time, the judge compelled Ellis-Abbott to provide a DNA sample for a national databank, ordered her to make restitution to the Millbrook band for the full amount and gave her 15 years to pay a fine in lieu of forfeiture in the same amount. If she defaults on the fine without a reasonable excuse, she could be liable to five more years in prison.

Any payment she makes will be deducted from both the restitution and fine orders, as well as the civil judgment.

In addition, Hunt granted a 25-year order prohibiting Ellis-Abbott from working or volunteering in any capacity that would give her authority over the real property, money or valuable security of another person.

The Millbrook band, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, said the sentencing brought closure and justice for the First Nation.

“This crime has significantly impacted our community, and no amount of time served will replace the economic opportunities and community benefits lost because of this selfish act (by) this former employee,” Chief Bob Gloade said in the post. “I am disappointed, as I was hopeful for a longer sentence.

“I am thankful for the dedication and understanding that our Millbrook staff and community has shown over the last few years as we navigated this investigation and legal battle. It has been a long, difficult road and I am looking forward to continuing to work on improvements with my team at Millbrook and rebuilding the trust that this individual compromised.”

New Year’s Day 2026 marked five years since Zack Lefave of Yarmouth County went missing.

Yet while each passing year is a sombre anniversary to mark, each year also comes with renewed hope for Lefave’s family, friends and the community that there will finally be answers about what happened to him.

On the anniversary of Lefave’s disappearance, the Southwest Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit (SWN MCU) issued a media release saying the RCMP continues to investigate this case.

“Our investigators have spoken with over two hundred people during the course of this investigation,” said Cst. Shawn Himmelman, lead investigator with the SWN MCU. “The information and details provided have shaped where and how searches have taken place, and will support any new search efforts going forward.”

On Jan. 1, 2021, the Yarmouth RCMP started a missing person investigation following a report that Lefave did not return to a New Year’s Eve gathering he had attended earlier in the evening with friends. According to the RCMP, he was last seen walking on Highway 334 in Plymouth, Yarmouth County, at approximately 12:15 a.m.

Lefave was just days shy of his 21st birthday when he went missing.

Missing person posters continue to dot locations in Yarmouth County. Social media, where people plead for answers and information about Lefave’s disappearance, continues to be active.

The RCMP says over the last five years, investigators with the SWN MCU have collaborated with multiple partner agencies inside and outside of the RCMP to find Lefave.

It says regional ground search and rescue (GSAR) teams have volunteered countless hours over the years. RCMP Police Dog Services, including an RCMP cadaver dog team from British Columbia, officers from RCMP Forensic Identification Services, various units from Yarmouth RCMP, Meteghan RCMP, Shelburne RCMP and Lunenburg District RCMP have all contributed to the search and investigation.

The RCMP Southwest Nova Major Crime Unit continues to investigate and seek any information that will assist in locating Lefave. In particular, the RCMP would like to speak with anyone who was driving or walking on or near Hwy. 334 between Arcadia and Wedgeport between the hours of 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2020, and 3 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2021. It makes a similar plea every year.

In 2025, there had been renewed hope for answers or clues when a new development led to a May weekend search in the area of Yarmouth County where Lefave went missing.

That scene during the first weekend of May 2025 was reminiscent of one in the early days of January 2021. Searchers from various ground search and rescue teams in southwestern Nova Scotia, along with the RCMP, set up a command centre in the parking lot of the Plymouth elementary school. Everyone’s hope was focused on finding Lefave.

Unfortunately, the RCMP said the weekend search did not locate anything relevant to the ongoing investigation.

Asked at the time what had triggered this newest large-scale search, Sergeant Jeff LeBlanc, the weekend’s incident commander, said it had been due to a new development in the investigation.

“Recently, there was a new development that was learned that the last point of contact may have been made while he was walking down a dirt road, which triggered what we’re seeing here,” Sgt. LeBlanc had said on May 3, 2025. “A large sum of people have gathered together to try to find Zack.”

The search size was significant. There were search teams from Digby around to Queens, which also included teams from Yarmouth, Clare and Barrington. There were in excess of 70 searchers from the ground search teams, with another 18 or so RCMP officers on the ground.

Asked how the May 2025 search effort differed from the initial one in January 2021, and another one that the RCMP conducted in July 2023, LeBlanc had said, “We’re focus-driven this time around. We’re concentrating specifically on two different roads.” He did not refer to the roads by name.

The RCMP had posted on social media prior to that weekend that people would be seeing a large search effort in Plymouth, Yarmouth County. By the next morning, that RCMP’s post had been shared over 1,100 times with people holding out hope for a break in the case that for years has left a family and a community heartbroken and searching for answers.

As the physical search was happening, RCMP Major Crime investigators were also in the Tri-County area continuing to conduct follow-up interviews in relation to the case.

“I’m hopeful we can find answers,” Sgt. LeBlanc had said during the search. “I am hopeful that we are going to have some closure for the family and the community … We’re doing everything we can to obtain that. But of course, in this line of work, nothing is certain.”

And last year, it was not meant to be.

Still, there is always hope.

In addition to the RCMP’s ongoing public appeal for information that could aid in the investigation, Lefave’s case is also included in the Nova Scotia Department of Justice Reward for Major Unsolved Crimes Program. A reward of up to $150,000 is available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the disappearance of Lefave.

In the past, Lefave’s family has described the young man as someone who was always on the go doing something, whether it be fishing, hunting, or taking a drive on his four-wheeler. He loved to be outside. He loved animals. Loved to cook. Loved his family deeply. In a July 2023 interview with the Tri-County Vanguard, his mother Lorna said her son, “Had a smile that would light up any room.”

The years have been very difficult for Lefave’s family.

“He basically just disappeared without a trace,” his mother said in that interview.

When no one had heard from Zack as the hours ticked by on Jan. 1, 2021, and because he also hadn’t shown up for work that morning, his family immediately knew something was wrong. His mother knew her son wouldn’t have just purposely run off, even if he was in an intoxicated or impaired state. He wouldn’t have neglected his responsibilities and wouldn’t have purposely caused worry to his family.

“It’s a big world out there, and it continues to carry on. Our life seems like it’s in slow motion, or put on pause,” said his mother. “We see the world and life in a different way. Nothing is or will be the same.”

Still, five years later, there is something that hasn’t changed – the love Zack’s family has for him, their grief that is immeasurable, and the hope that they cling to that one day they will have answers about what happened to the young man, and that they will be able to bring him home.