MP Bob Zimmer

By Cheryl Jahn

Independent Inquiry

Local MP calls for Tumbler Ridge inquiry

Mar 2, 2026 | 4:02 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Still plenty of unanswered questions following a deadly shooting in Tumbler Ridge just over three weeks ago, when five young students and a teacher’s assistant, as well as two individuals off the school site were killed, before the shooter, eighteen-year-old Jesse van Roosterlaar turned the gun inward.

And that’s the reason the MP for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies Bob Zimmer is pursuing a third-party independent inquiry to hopefully answer some of the growing list of questions.

“What do you say to a mom who just lost her daughter? What do you say to a dad who lost his son? The bottom line is they deserve answers,” explains Bob Zimmer. “And not just passive answers. We need answers that are going to be substantial, so that we can make our best efforts. So this never happens again.”

Zimmer’s provincial counterpart, Peace River-South MLA Larry Neufeld has been pushing for something similar. And Zimmer applauds those efforts. But it will follow from others already underway.

“Essentially it comes from a federal perspective,” says Zimmer. “So we, in terms of order and sequence, the police are investigating the situation currently. The inquiry, to my understanding, will follow that police investigation. And we believe it needs to be independent, to really get to the bottom of all the sort of failings that we’re starting to hear that seem to have happened.”

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But unfortunately he acknowledges that the wheels in Ottawa move very slowly and collective memories can be short.

“Once the inquiry starts to get going, a one year timeline I believe. I think regardless of what time is given to it, it just needs to do all it can to find all the answers that are out there as to the cause of the shootings and that’s what everybody’s looking for.”

But regardless of the time line, Zimmer assures it isn’t something that he will let disappear off his radar.