Prime Minister Carney and Canada's main opposition leader hold hands during school shooting vigil

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country’s main opposition leader held hands Friday as they paid tribute to the victims of one of the worst mass shootings in the country’s history at a vigil in a devastated British Columbia town.

Carney and Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre joined hands as an Indigenous leader sang a prayer outside the town hall in Tumbler Ridge.

Carney and Poilievre also spoke. The prime minister named each of the six people killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and said the mother and brother of the shooter who were killed also “deserve to be mourned.”

Authorities said the 18-year-old alleged shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, killed her 39-year-old mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and 11-year-old stepbrother, Emmett Jacobs, in their home on Tuesday before heading to the nearby Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and opening fire, killing five children and an educator before killing herself.

Carney said he sat with people who are “living through something no one should ever have to endure.”

“When you wake up tomorrow, and the world feels impossible, know that millions of Canadians are with you. When the cameras leave and the quiet sets in — know that we will still be here,” Carney said.

A crowd of hundreds attended the vigil. Some held photos of loved ones they lost.

Carney said the community has always been defined by people caring for each other.

“And when the unimaginable happened on Tuesday, you were there again. First responders at the school within two minutes. Teachers shielding their children,” he said.

Poilievre commended Carney for his “tremendous grace.” Canada’s political leaders flew from Ottawa together.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said the students of the school won’t ever have to return to the building if they don’t want to.

“I will promise that not one of you will ever be forced to go back to that school. We will provide a safe place for you to go back to school,” Eby said.

Authorities on Thursday identified those killed at the school as Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit and Ticaria Lampert, all age 12, as well as 13-year-old Ezekiel Schofield and assistant teacher Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39.

Maya Gebala, 12, who was wounded in the head and neck, and Paige Hoekstra, 19, who also suffered bullet wounds, remain hospitalized in Vancouver.

Dwayne McDonald, the deputy commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, said earlier Friday that the alleged shooter did not appear to be searching for a specific target at the school.

“This suspect was, for lack of a better term, hunting,” McDonald said. “They were prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with.”

McDonald described a “chaotic” scene at the school when police arrived, with fire alarms sounding and a person yelling out a window that the suspect was upstairs.

“They entered the school, proceeded to go up the stairwell, and were met with gunfire,” he said. “It was a matter of seconds after that there was more gunfire, not as we know now, having reviewed video, directed at any persons. Then the suspect took their life.”

McDonald said from the time the suspect encountered police there were no further injuries to students at the school.

Four guns were seized, two from the family home and two from the school, he said.

The attack was Canada’s deadliest since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.

School shootings are rare in Canada, which has strict gun-control laws. The government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun-control measures, including a recently broadened ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.

Gillies reported from Toronto.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney place flowers at a memorial for the victims of a mass shooting, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

People hold photos of victims to a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

People bring flowers and stuffed animal to a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

People comfort each other at a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

From left to right, Leader of the Official Opposition of Canada Pierre Poilievre, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon join hands while attending a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Portland, which is welcoming a WNBA team back to the city after 24 years, selected veteran forward Bridget Carleton with the first pick in Friday's expansion draft.

Guard Julie Allemand, who played last season for the Los Angeles Sparks, was selected by the Toronto Tempo with its first pick.

The Tempo won a coin flip and opted to take the sixth pick in the college draft on April 13 over the top pick in the expansion draft. So Portland went first on Friday and will have the seventh pick in the college draft.

Carleton, who has played for the last seven seasons for the Minnesota Lynx and averaged 6.5 points and 3.6 rebounds a game last season off the bench, was an unrestricted free agent.

“Once we finalized our process, and zoomed in on Bridget, and knew we had our first expansion pick, it was obvious we did not want to have Toronto hold our destiny in their hands," Portland general manger Vanja Cernivec said.

Allemand averaged 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5 assists in 34 games last season.

“This group gives us the ability to compete from day one while continuing to build, and embraces the opportunity to help shape something new in a new country as Canada’s first WNBA team,” Toronto general manager Monica Wright Rogers said.

The league's teams protected five players apiece ahead of the expansion draft but those lists were not made public, leading to speculation about which players were available.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Sky announced trades with the Tempo and the Fire, which prevented the expansion teams from selecting Sky players. In exchange, the Fire got the No. 17 pick in the college draft and the No. 26 pick went to the Tempo.

The expansion draft had two rounds, with up to six picks for each team in each round. The teams alternated picks, with the Tempo picking first in the second round after the Fire got the first overall selection.

Teams could only lose two players to the expansion draft. If a player was taken in the first round, a second player from that same franchise couldn't be taken until the second round.

Following Allemand, the Tempo selected center Nyara Sabally from the Liberty, guard Marina Mabrey from the Sun, forward Aaliya Nye from the Aces, guard Lexi Held from the Mercury, and forward Maria Conde from the Valkyries.

In the second round the Tempo selected forward Maria Kliundikova from the Lynx, center Adja Kane from the Liberty, center Nikolina Milic from the Sun, guard Kitija Laksa from the Mercury, and guard Kristy Wallace from the Fever.

After Carleton, the Portland Fire selected guard Carla Leite from the Valkyries, center Luisa Geiselsoder from the Stars, forward Emily Engstler from the Mystics, guard Maya Caldwell from the Dream and forward Chloe Bibby from the Fever.

In the second round Portland took guard Haley Jones from the Wings, forward Nyadiew Puoch from the Dream, guard Sara Ashlee Barker from the Sparks, guard Sug Sutton from the Mystics and guard Nika Muhl from the Storm.

Mabry was also an unrestricted free agent. Each team was allowed to pick only one unrestricted free agent.

The teams still do not know when free agency will open. More than 80% of the players are free agents this year, as many players have expiring contracts or opted out of the previous collective bargaining agreement.

The college draft is set for April 13 and training camps open on April 19. The season will start on May 8.

The Tempo and Fire join the WNBA as the league's 14th and 15th teams. Portland previously had a WNBA team, also called the Fire, that played from 2000 to 2002.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Toronto Tempo general manager Monica Wright Rogers, right, and assistant general manager Eli Horowitz pose for a photo after speaking to media following the WNBA Expansion Draft in Toronto, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)

FILE - Minnesota Lynx forward Bridget Carleton (6) dribbles the ball up court against the Phoenix Mercury during the second half of Game 2 of a WNBA basketball playoff semifinals series Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn, File)