Ten people are dead and 27 injured after a woman opened fire at a high school in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Eight people, including the shooter, were found dead at the school in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, while two more bodies were found at a home believed to be connected to the incident, Canadian authorities said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the suspect ­– described in an alert as “a female in a dress with brown hair” –  had suffered what was believed to be a fatal self-inflicted injury.

The tragedy, one of Canada’s deadliest mass casualty events in recent history, left more than 25 people injured, including two who are in a life-threatening condition.

Police have not said how many of the victims were children.

“As part of the initial response to the active shooting, police entered the school to locate the threat,” RCMP said in a statement.

“During the search, officers located multiple victims… six additional individuals, not including the suspect, have been located deceased inside the school.

“Two victims have been airlifted to hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries. A third victim died while being transported to hospital.”

Police earlier said officers were working to determine whether a second suspect was involved.

They asked residents of Tumbler Ridge, which has a population of about 2400 people, to stay inside as additional police resources were being deployed from neighbouring areas.

The Peace River South School District said there was a “lockdown and secure and hold” at both the secondary school and the Tumbler Ridge Elementary school.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement he was devastated by the “horrific shootings” in Tumbler Ridge.

“My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence,” he wrote in a social media post.

British Columbia Premier David Eby also shared a statement, saying: “Our hearts are in Tumbler Ridge tonight with the families of those who have lost loved ones.

“Government will ensure every possible support for community members in the coming days, as we all try to come to terms with this unimaginable tragedy.”

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.

I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed…

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) February 11, 2026

Police Superintendent Ken Floyd said police were still investigating how the victims are connected to the shooter.

“We are not in a place to understand why or what may have motivated this tragedy,” he said.

Tumbler Ridge is more than 1000km north of Vancouver, near the border with Alberta.

The provincial government website lists Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as having 175 students from Grades 7 to 12.

School shootings are rare in Canada.

In April 2020, a 51-year-old man disguised in a police uniform and driving a fake police car shot and killed 22 people in a 13-hour rampage in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, before police killed him at a gas station about 90km from the site of his first killings.

In Canada’s worst school shooting, in December 1989, a gunman killed 14 female students and wounded 13 at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, before ⁠committing suicide.

–with AP / Reuters