Guns in photo posted by Tumbler Ridge shooter’s mother were legal, expert says

Former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German says firearms initially removed from the Tumbler Ridge shooter’s residence were returned by ‘legal process.’

A former RCMP weapons officer says guns in a photo posted by the Tumbler Ridge shooter’s mother all appear to have been legal to own in Canada at the time, although they include a semi-automatic rifle that was later prohibited.

Jennifer Jacobs posted the photo of guns in a cabinet to Facebook in August 2024 with the caption, “Think it’s time to take them out for some target practice.”

• Read more: Why were confiscated guns returned to home of suspect before Tumbler Ridge shooting?

Jacobs and her 11-year-old son were among eight people killed in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Feb. 10 by Jacobs’s daughter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, before she killed herself.

Frank Grosspietsch, a retired RCMP officer with the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team and a technical adviser to the Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners, said the photo posted by Jacobs includes five rifles — three of which appear to be semi-automatic — two shotguns and a handgun.

“I can’t see any of the markings that are on the firearms but I’m looking at the undersides, the barrel configurations, the stocks and unique markers that stand out to me,” he said.

He added that “every firearm in that locker at the time that photograph was taken was non-restricted.”

An RCMP spokesperson said in an email on Thursday in response to questions about the guns in the photo that they “will not confirm which firearms have been seized as these details are subject to the ongoing investigation.”

It’s unclear whether Van Rootselaar used any of the guns from the photo in the killings, or if they were among the weapons that police previously seized from the home under the Criminal Code before returning them after a request from their owner.

RCMP say they seized two firearms from the home last week, including an unregistered shotgun police said was used in the killings, as well as “a number of other firearms.”

Police also seized a long gun and modified rifle from Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where Van Rootselaar shot dead five pupils aged 12 and 13, a teacher’s aide and then herself.

The rifle on the far left of the photo is a bolt-action Lee-Enfield, a First World War-era weapon commonly found across Canada, Grosspietsch said.

Second from the left is a pump-action shotgun that he said is missing its barrel, which “may be what we see to the far right in the safe.”

To the right of that gun is what appears to be a Winchester pump-action shotgun, then a bolt-action Tikka rifle.

Grosspietsch said the distinctive and boxy-looking black gun in the middle of the cabinet is a Kriss Vector semi-automatic 9-mm rifle.

In August 2024, when the photo was posted, “that particular firearm on that date was deemed as non-restricted,” he said.

“So whoever in the household, if they had a valid PAL (possession and acquisition licence) could have purchased that because at that time it was non-restricted. It wasn’t deemed prohibited until December.”

The Kriss Vector became illegal to own in December 2024 after the federal government extended its list of prohibited assault-style firearms, a decision it said it made to counter crime.

Grosspietsch said the other two guns in the cabinet appear to be semi-automatic rifles, an SKS on the left and what looks like a Ruger carbine next to it.

In the top part of the cabinet, he noticed a high-capacity magazine for a .22 rifle. “They’re rim fire, so there’s no restriction on the size of the magazine. So they are not limited to 10 rounds,” Grosspietsch said, adding that above the boxes of ammunition there is a handgun.

Non-restricted firearms don’t need to be registered in Canada, with the exception of Quebec, though they can only be transferred to someone who holds a valid PAL.

RCMP said Jennifer Jacobs held a valid PAL and there were no firearms registered to it.

The firearms in the photo are not inconsistent with guns owned by many Canadians with a valid PAL, Grosspietsch said.

“It’s not more complicated than that,” he said.

B.C. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said last week that the shotgun used at the home had never been seized.

The main firearm used in the killings at the school had also never been seized by police, McDonald said, adding it is of “unknown origin.”

McDonald said Van Rootselaar had a gun licence that expired in 2024 and had no weapons registered to her.

It’s not known who owned the guns that where previously seized from the home where Jacobs and Van Rootselaar lived, or who successfully applied for their return.

In a memorandum Wednesday, the B.C. Provincial Court’s Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie wrote there was no formal written application filed at the Dawson Creek or Tumbler Ridge registries by Jacobs in relation to firearms previously seized at the home.

“There are no adult records in relation to Jesse Van Rootselaar in relation to any firearms seized under the Criminal Code,” she added.

— With files from Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2026.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press