Tumbler Ridge student describes chaos during Canada school shooting: 'We were formulating an escape plan'

A mass shooting in a remote part of western Canada has shocked the country leading to the death of nine people on Tuesday. The incident occurred at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on February 10, when a 'woman in a dress' opened fire on a school and home in British Columbia, injuring at least 25 people in the shooting with the suspect's body being found at the scene with a self-inflicted injury.

Darian Quist, a Grade 12 student who was barricaded in a classroom during the worst school shooting in nearly 40 years has now recounted the horror and chaos at the scene. After arriving at the secondary school at 1:30 pm, the student was barricaded in a classroom for over two hours with alarms sounding and alerting the students to get themselves to safety.





Quist appeared alongside his mother Shelley Quist, in the interview where they talked to CBC Radio West host Sarah Penton and shared how he and his classmates barricaded the doors while the school was in lockdown, until the police escorted them out.

He shared that for a while, the students didn't think of the alarms as a concern and thought of them as a security situation. "But once everything started circulating, we realised that something was wrong," he said.

They gathered tables from the classroom and positioned them at the door until "I believe SWAT had come through the door and escorted us out of the high school." He shared that the shooting possibly took place on the upstairs floor of the high school and he did not hear anything.

Inside the classroom, he shared that the situation was "tense and nervous." "So we tried to keep things light and keep each other motivated and not fall into grief. Once people sent me some photos, it definitely set in what was actually happening."

He states that people sent him some "disturbing" photos which featured "blood" and that made him realise just how scary the situation was. Adding that he was "pretty scared" and wondering about an escape plan if the shooter came to the door, "we were going to run up to the door and out of the back."

There were about 15 students in Quist's class with their teacher, who was making sure that everyone was gathered and everything was smooth. "He organised us between the tables, closed the doors and just formulated an escape plan if anything happened."

Finally, the police came to the door and escorted the students out safely with their "hands up at all times." Once safe outside, the officials counted the number of students to ensure everyone had been escorted outside and checked them for injuries.

Shelley, the student's mother shared that she was on the phone with her son and could hear the moment the police came to escort them to safety. Quist went out and reunited with his mother who was waiting outside. She described feeling a "rollercoaster of emotions" after the incident. "I told him to just leave me on the phone, even when he needed to be quiet, and that I was there," she shared with the outlet, adding that her son was "not getting out of my sight for a while now."

Officers believe they have identified the shooter but said they will "struggle" to ever determine the motive for the shooting. Canadian federal police chief Supt Ken Floyd confirmed that the suspect found dead is the same person police described in an alert sent to phones. The alert described the "woman in a dress with brown hair," as per Reuters.

Canadian PM Mark Carney took to X to grieve the lives lost and issue a statement in support of families and officials. "I am devastated by today’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," he wrote.

The incident is being considered the worst shooting in Canadian history, followed by the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre that saw 14 female students killed. In a statement, the municipality of Tumbler Ridge said: "There are no words sufficient for the heartbreak our community is experiencing tonight."