Maya Gebala is in a critical condition in hospital after being shot in the head and neck Photo / Facebook
Maya Gebala is in a critical condition in hospital after being shot in the head and neck Photo / Facebook
A 12-year-old girl is in a critical condition after being shot in the head and neck during Canada’s worst school shooting in more than 30 years.
A shooter, described only by authorities as a “gunperson” wearing a dress, left Maya Gebala with severe shrapnel wounds during a rampage inside TumblerRidge High School on Tuesday afternoon.
The Telegraph understands that the shooter is Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old from the town. Police are yet to confirm the name.
The suspect shot dead six victims inside the British Columbia school, after killing two at a nearby home. The shooter died from self-inflicted wounds.
Another 25 victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Teachers and students barricaded their classrooms with metal benches and cowered inside during the massacre.
Maya was one of two victims airlifted to Vancouver with severe injuries. A third died from their injuries mid-transport.
Cia Edmonds, her mother, said the day had started “as any other” and ended with her sitting by her daughter’s bedside in the critical care unit of Vancouver children’s hospital.
“She was a lucky one, I suppose,” Edmonds wrote in an online message two hours after the shooting.
Edmonds shared a photograph of her daughter to her personal Facebook page and wrote: “This doesn’t even feel real, never thought I would be asking for prayers.. but please, please pray for my baby
“This doesn’t even feel real.”
Maya Gebala was one of two victims airlifted to Vancouver with severe injuries.
Krysta Young, Edmonds’ cousin, said Maya was “fighting for her life”, adding that she first learnt of what happened during a panicked phone call from her grandparents.
In an interview with the television station CityNews Ottawa, she said: “You don’t expect a tragedy like this to impact your family. So we’re all just sitting, praying that she’s going to make it through.
“I’m the only one here in the Lower Mainland, so I’m trying to do whatever I can to help support my cousin while she’s in a time of need.”
An online fundraiser set up by Young for her cousin and Maya had accumulated £17,000 ($38,000) in donations as of Wednesday afternoon.
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