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Max Stephens
Warning: This story contains graphic content.
A 12-year-old girl was critically injured in a Canadian school shooting while trying to save her classmates, her family has said.
Maya Gebala was among the 31 victims wounded or killed by Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, when the transgender teenager opened fire on pupils and staff at Tumbler Ridge on Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday AEDT).
She was shot twice in the head and neck when she hid under a table after attempting to lock the school’s library to prevent the gunman from entering.
Doctors warned the damage to her brain was “too much to endure”, but her mother said on Thursday (Canadian time) that she appeared to be recovering.
Van Rootselaar, armed with a modified handgun and a rifle or shotgun, shot dead three 12-year-old girls, two boys aged 12 and 13, and a 39-year-old female teacher. Van Rootselaar’s mother and stepbrother were also shot dead.
Kylie May Smith and Abel Mwansa Jr, both 12, have been identified as two of the children killed. Another 25 victims were wounded.
Five of the victims were found deceased in the library, and a sixth was found in the stairwell. Van Rootselaar died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound minutes before police arrived at the scene.
Maya and another girl, Paige Hoekstra, were airlifted to a children’s hospital in Vancouver, where they are being treated for life-threatening injuries.
Krysta Hunt, Maya’s aunt, said her niece has undergone surgery and remains in “extreme critical condition” with a bullet still lodged above her left eye and another in her neck.
Maya’s chances of survival are uncertain, she told the Canadian outlet Global News.
Hunt said: “She had surgery yesterday to try and repair the brain bleed, and they’re waiting to see how she responds to that.”
Cia Edmonds, Maya’s mother, said on Wednesday (Canadian time) her daughter “needs a miracle” after doctors warned the family that the damage to her brain was “too much to endure”.
However, a day later she said: “Day of recovery. [She’s] moved!! [It’s] stimulus, a kick, a hand move, but [it’s] something!!!” adding: “Pray for our community. Pray for support. Pray for healing… We love you, and we are thinking about all of you from the ICU.”
Hunt, her aunt, praised Maya’s friends who spotted Maya moving her fingers, rushed to carry her out of the library, and called for help.
“[Maya] tried to lock the door of the library from the shooter to save the other kids, and then she tried to lock it and then ran and hid under a table and [got shot],” Hunt said.
She described Maya, a keen hockey player, as a “feisty little girl who is brave and strong”.
“You don’t think something like this is going to affect your family,” Hunt said. “It’s insane.”
On Wednesday night, Maya’s mother said doctors had warned the family that the damage to her brain was “too much to endure”.
Edmonds wrote about her daughter on Facebook: “I can feel her in my heart. I can feel her saying it’s going to be OK.
“I cannot reply to the mountain of messages we’ve received, but know we are so grateful for all the love and support, she’s here for how long we don’t know.
“It was just a normal day. Our community is shattered. Our baby needs a miracle.”
An online fundraising page to help with medical expenses for Maya has so far received $CA257,000 ($266,500)
Paige Hoekstra, Maya’s fellow pupil, is also in critical care at the hospital and has undergone surgery. Her older brother, Nicholas, said: “We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it. It all happened so fast.
“Watching someone you love go through something like this is something you can’t really prepare for. We’re scared, we’re hoping, and we’re just taking it one moment at a time.”
Abel Mwansa said he had expected to see his son on Wednesday evening when he picked him up from a church youth group. Instead, Abel jnr had been “murdered in cold blood”, he said.
“This is a child that I have raised to respect elders, answer to one call, be strong, work hard … focus on his studies, never miss school and to be a good kid,” he wrote on social media.
“One day I came up with an idea that he should do home school, but he cried that I love being at school.”
Shanon Dycke, Kylie May Smith’s aunt, said the loss of her niece was “gut-wrenching”.
“We are completely devastated and have no words as we try to process the magnitude of the situation,” she said. “Their world, our world, has crumbled.”
Zoey Benoit was described by her family in a statement as “resilient, vibrant, smart, caring and the strongest little girl you could meet”.
“Our family is devastated by this loss, but we will cherish her memories with us so close to our hearts forever,” they added.
“She will forever be loved and never forgotten. We miss you beautiful girl, Zoey, we love you so much.”
Ticaria Lampert, known as “Tiki”, was described by a neighbour as a “loving, courageous, humorous, one-of-a-kind kiddo” whose life had been tragically cut short.
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