Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has ordered all flags on government buildings across the country to be flown at half-mast following a deadly school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.
The Prime Minister has asked that the flag atop the Peace Tower and across all federal buildings remain at half-mast for seven days as the nation mourns the tragedy.
"What happened has left our nation in shock and all of us in mourning," Carney has said in an emotional address to parliament.
He told the families of the victims, "The nation mourns with you. Canada stands by you."
The Prime Minister has suspended his upcoming visit to Germany for the Munich Security Conference to manage the national response.
Second-deadliest shooting
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald has identified the shooter as Jesse Strang, an 18-year-old resident.
Police have confirmed that the shooter, armed with a long-barrelled gun and a pistol, was found dead from a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" inside the school.
The victims included the shooter's own mother and brother.
While the death toll was initially reported as higher, police have revised the total to eight fatalities and at least 25 wounded.
The massacre took place at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where six victims were found, and at a nearby residence.
A seventh person died whilst being transported to the hospital.
King Charles III has expressed that he and Queen Camilla are "profoundly shocked and saddened" by the attack.
Tumbler Ridge, a tight-knit mining town of 2,400 people, remains in shock as schools stay closed for the rest of the week.
This event marks the second-deadliest school shooting in Canadian history, surpassed only by the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre.
