The online activity of the 18-year-old behind the deadly shooting inside a Canadian high school last week revealed an interest in firearms, mass violence and a history of consuming violent “gore” content, according to expert analysis.
The shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, spent time in dark corners of the internet, posting about her struggles with substance use and mental health. Van Rootselaar referred to gore content as “addictive” in posts shared with CBS News by analysts at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works toward solutions to combat extremism.
She was active on the website WatchPeopleDie, which hosts material portraying graphic violence against people and animals. The site has become a common thread between perpetrators of mass violence, CBS News has previously reported, with several other school shooters frequenting the site. Cody Zoschak, a senior manager at the institute, told CBS News that Van Rootselaar’s digital footprint revealed a visit to the WatchPeopleDie page of 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who shot and killed a student and a teacher at a school in Wisconsin in 2024.
Zoschak said these online communities can exacerbate typical teenage emotions like loneliness and desperation. In the digital era, teens feeling isolated can opt into online spaces where they might receive validation from strangers, instead of seeking help within their communities. But these spaces can be a dangerous echo chamber with ill-intentioned strangers, he said.
“The worst influence you could have was the worst kid in your school. Now, the worst influence you can have is the worst person on the internet,” Zoschak said. “There’s a big difference in the degree between those two.”
By comparing social media profile elements and usernames and cross-referencing photos and content posted online, ISD analysts were able to identify accounts associated with Van Rootselaar and pinpoint when the shooter’s online activity began to take a troubling turn.
Zoschak said ISD was able to trace Van Rootselaar’s activity across various online accounts spanning from 2019, when the shooter would have been around 12. Posts began with discussions about video games, and then, in 2021, there was a post with a photo of a gun that Van Rootselaar claimed to own. Around 2023, Van Rootselaar began posting about drug use and mental health struggles. Zoschak said Van Rootselaar had a year of possible inactivity in 2024, with no traceable posts. Then, about five months ago, Van Rootselaar created an account on WatchPeopleDie, which revealed comments made on dozens of gore posts.
In addition, independent media company 404 Media recently reported on a mass shooting simulation game created on Roblox that online sleuths linked back to Van Rootselaar. It was not immediately clear when that simulation was created.
“We have removed the user account connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect,” Roblox said in a statement to CBS News. “We are committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation.”
The game was in a separate app called Roblox Studio, which could only be accessed by coders and developers, so the game only had seven visits. But these types of games and other grim content have made their way onto the main platform before with recreation games of the school shootings at Columbine, Uvalde and Parkland, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
As Van Rootselaar descended into violent content online, mental health concerns also unfolded at home, with police responding to mental health calls at Van Rootselaar’s family residence over the last several years.
During a news conference last week, police said Van Rootselaar was apprehended on different occasions under the Mental Health Act, which in British Columbia allows police to apprehend someone experiencing a mental health crisis that may need treatment.
Six people were killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School — most of them younger than 13. Van Rootselaar’s 11-year-old brother and mother were also found dead at a residence. The shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School was Canada’s deadliest since 1989, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine shot and killed 14 women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique before taking his own life.
[/gpt3]
