The horrific mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. on Monday is hitting one Newfoundland town in a very profound and personal way.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jennifer Strang, the shooter’s mother, and her 11-year-old son are among the victims.

Strang was from Lawn on the Burin Peninsula, and still has family in the area.

The town of Lawn posted to Facebook yesterday, saying their “hearts are heavy” as they reflect on the tragic events that took place in Tumbler Ridge.

British Columbia RCMP offered an update on the investigation yesterday. The shooter has been identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar.

Police believe Van Rootselaar shot and killed their mother and 11-year-old step-brother at a home in Tumbler Ridge and shot and killed a 38-year-old teacher and five students at the local school – all aged between 12 and 17.

Dozens more students were injured, including two who were airlifted to hospital in critical condition.

Van Rootselaar was not a student at the school, having dropped out four years ago, and was not related to any of the victims in the school.

RCMP responded to the school within minutes of receiving the call, and arrived to active gunfire.

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne MacDonald says investigators are now trying to piece together the circumstances around one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history, but says the shooter acted alone.

He says RCMP had been called to the residence for previous mental health concerns.

MacDonald says police have “a history of police attendance at the family residence; some of those calls were related to mental health issues.”

Deputy Commissioner MacDonald confirms that police had previously seized firearms from the residence.

“Police have attended that residence in the past, approximately a couple of years ago where firearms were seized under the Criminal Code. I can say that at a later point in time, the lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for those firearms to be returned, and they were.”