The suspect in Canada’s most deadly recent mass shooting, Jesse Van Rootselaar, struggled with drug abuse, suffered from mental health issues and often discussed guns, social media posts reveal.
In archived versions of the posts reported by The New York Times and The New York Post, Van Rootselaar said they had been diagnosed with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), major depressive disorder and autism spectrum disorder.
The 18-year-old spoke about smoking weed and taking psychedelics, including mushrooms and the hallucinogen nicknamed “toad venom.”
Van Rootselaar allegedly killed 9 people, including their mother, 39, and stepbrother, 11, when they opened fire on Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia and a nearby home on Tuesday, before dying from what appeared to be a “self-inflicted injury.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that Van Rootselaar, of Tumbler Ridge, was a “biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female.”
This is a developing story – more to follow.
