School shooter in Canada wrote ‘I need to hate Jews’ before killing 9 people

Researchers said the activity reflected what they described as a pattern of online radicalization.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Canadian investigators are examining whether online extremism played a role in a mass shooting that left eight people dead in British Columbia, after researchers reported that the teenage suspect circulated antisemitic and violent content online shortly before the attack.

The 18-year-old school shooter who killed six people, two family members and died of a self-inflicted wound in Canada on Tuesday wrote on social media two days before the attack, “I need to hate Jews.”

Prior to the shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School which claimed the lives of a 39-year-old teacher, five students aged 12 and 13, in addition to the suspect’s mother, and his 11-year-old stepbrother at home, he wrote online, “I need to hate jews because the zionists want me to hate jews. This benefits them, somehow,” the ADL reports.

Researchers said the activity reflected what they described as a pattern of online radicalization.

The ADL reported that Jesse Van Rootselaar appeared to be active on a digital platform associated with graphic violence and previously connected to mass-casualty attacks.

Analysts also said they believe he maintained an account on X that repeatedly circulated antisemitic and racist material and praised past attackers, including those responsible for the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting and the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre.

According to the ADL, the profile image used on that account combined an image of the Christchurch shooter with a Sonnenrad, a neo-Nazi symbol, alongside a transgender pride flag. Researchers said the imagery illustrated the increasingly hybrid nature of extremist online spaces.

British Columbia police said they have not established a motive and emphasized that the investigation remains ongoing.

Authorities confirmed that Van Rootselaar left school about four years ago and had little contact with the community in recent years.

Extremism researchers said the case aligns with recent incidents in which attackers were linked to similar online environments. They cited an alleged Minneapolis shooter in August whose weapon reportedly bore antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans, and the January 2025 Antioch High School shooting, after which Solomon Henderson was found to have maintained materials praising Adolf Hitler and promoting extremist “groyper” content.