One of the victims in the deadly Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooting has been identified as Abel Mwansa Jr.
The 12-year-old was shot and killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday when a person opened fire.
Tyler Curry knew Mwansa through the Tumbler Ridge Soccer Association, where he helped coach the under-13 team.
“He was a great player,” Curry told Global News.
“He was giving it his all, he was trying so hard, and it’s just, he brought power to the team. There were times when we didn’t know what to do and (Mwansa) was sitting there, helping his other teammates.”
Curry said he knows Mwansa’s family is trying to process what happened and mourn the loss of their son.
He added that he will look at the photos the two of them had together and with the team, of the silly and better times.
“This shook the town pretty heavily,” he added, saying he heard the news through Facebook and through school friends.
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“When I looked on Facebook and saw Abel’s gone… well, hell.”
Curry said what happened on Tuesday has taken a toll on everyone involved and everyone with ties to the school.
He attended Tumbler Ridge High School himself for six years.
“It was a place I would always go and just be myself,” he said.
Mwansa was one of five students killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday.
A female teacher was also killed.
In addition, the mother and stepbrother of the shooter were killed at their home before the shooting at the school.
The shooter, identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, RCMP said on Wednesday.
Curry said that while the community and families grieve and try to process what happened, he will always remember his fellow soccer-loving friend.
“That person dies twice,” he said. “They die naturally and then they die when you stop telling the story.
“And something that I’ll never stop doing is telling Abel’s story.”
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