Melville Mother Recounts Son's Survival in Tumbler Ridge School Shooting
Shelley Quist, originally from Melville, Saskatchewan, and her 17-year-old son Darian experienced the mass shooting that is shaking the nation. The incident occurred at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, leaving a total of nine dead and others in critical condition, marking one of the deadliest school shootings in Canadian history.
A Mother's Nightmare Unfolds
On the afternoon of February 10, 2026, Quist, a long-time combined lab and X-ray technician, was at her office in the Tumbler Ridge Community Health Centre. From her window, she had a direct line of sight across a parking lot to the high school, where her son Darian was on lockdown. She could see an RCMP officer with his gun drawn, crouched between cars, as an active shooter was loose.
"My office window faces the high school," Quist says. "So I just kind of got up and ran to the back to grab my phone and my swipe card because my first instinct was I was going to school, like, right then and there."
Her co-worker stopped her, but minutes earlier, Darian had texted his mom to say there was a lockdown. Quist immediately called her son, and they stayed connected until police escorted his class to the community centre. Darian was barricaded behind metal tables in the school's mechanics classroom, having been in the library shortly before, where some of the victims were found.
Reunion and Relief
The mother and son were reunited at the community centre. "There was people everywhere. And then as soon as I saw Darian, I ran over, and I held him. I knew he was safe," Quist recounted.
On February 12, the RCMP confirmed the names of those killed in the shooting rampage. It began at the shooter's home, where Jennifer Jacobs, 39, and Emmett Jacobs, 11, were killed. The shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, then went to the school and killed six others: Abel Mwansa, Kylie Smith, Zoey Benoit, and Ticaria Lampert, all 12, Ezekiel Schofield, 13, and Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39. Van Rootselaar, who had a documented troubled history with mental health, died from a self-inflicted injury inside the school.
Background and Community Impact
Quist's family moved from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to Tumbler Ridge in October 2024, where she was offered a management job in the lab. Raised on a farm seven miles east of Melville, she now lives in the tight-knit B.C. community with her husband Shane and sons Tristan and Darian.
Normally, their street is "like kid central," but in the aftermath of the tragedy, it is filled with cries of grief. The community is grappling with the loss, as this event has left a profound impact on residents and the nation as a whole.
The shooting has drawn comparisons to past incidents, such as the La Loche school shooting, with communities expressing solidarity and reflection on the ongoing challenges of gun violence and mental health issues in schools.
