Trans Mass Shooter Pattern Continues: Canada, Kirk, US Christian School, and Catholic Church
The February 10, 2026 shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history, left nine people dead and about 25 injured. Police identified the suspect as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was male but identified as female after beginning a transition about six years earlier. Authorities reportedly had prior contacts with the home related to mental health concerns and had previously seized and later returned firearms.
An increasing number of high-profile attacks and plots have likewise involved transgender or nonbinary perpetrators. In Minneapolis, 23-year-old Robin Westman, born Robert Westman, carried out the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. Westman’s driver’s license and a court-approved name change reflected a female identity.
In January 2024, a shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa, left two victims dead, in addition to the perpetrator. The shooter, Dylan Butler, reportedly identified as gender-fluid or nonbinary on social media. On March 27, 2023, Aiden Hale, a transgender former student, carried out the attack at The Covenant School in Nashville.
In 2022, Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary, carried out the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs. Additional cases include the 2018 Rite Aid distribution center shooting in Aberdeen, Maryland, carried out by Snochia Moseley, who was transitioning from female to male, and the 2019 STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting involving Alec McKinney, a transgender boy.
Beyond single-incident shootings, there is a broader pattern of violence by transgender individuals, as well as by what is commonly referred to as “Trantifa,” a term combining “trans” and “Antifa” to describe an informal grouping of transgender activists or far-left activists aligned with militant anti-fascist or anarchist ideology.
One example is the “Zizian” group led by Jack “Ziz” LaSota, whose members have been connected to multiple killings and arrests in 2025. Another case involved a prevented workplace mass-shooting plot in Oregon involving Elizabeth Ballesteros West, whom federal prosecutors charged with making threats across state lines. An FBI search of her residence uncovered a large cache of weapons.