Canada mass shooter was transgender female: Police

Ottawa: The shooter who killed eight people in British Columbia has been identified as a transgender female by officials, who said the person's mother and stepbrother were among the victims.

Police also revised on Wednesday the number of victims in Tuesday's shootings at a school and a home downwards to eight because they said they had mistakenly thought a woman being taken to hospital with serious injuries had died, but she was in a serious condition.

Including the shooter's suicide, the total toll is nine.

As the country mourned the rare massacre in the nation of strict gun laws, Canadian federal police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald identified the shooter as Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old male who began transitioning to female six years ago.  He said that he would refer to the person as a female.

Prime Minister Mark Carney told Parliament that the killings in Tumbler Ridge "left our nation in shock and all of us in mourning".

"It is a town of miners, teachers, construction workers -- families who have built their lives there, people who have always shown up for each other there", he said.

The shootings reverberated across the small town of only about 2,400 people in a mining area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his condolences, saying in a X post, "India stands in solidarity with the people of Canada in this moment of profound grief".  (IANS)

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