The transgender teenager responsible for Canada’s worst school shooting in nearly 40 years wrote online about being 6ft and his desire to be a “petite” woman as well as his fixation with guns and drugs. The Telegraph has more.

Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18 year-old from the remote town of Tumbler Ridge who was born a male, wrote online about his 6ft frame and his desire to be a “petite” woman.

He shot dead his mother, Jennifer Strang, and his 11 year-old stepbrother on Tuesday afternoon before walking to his former school 10 minutes away and opening fire on pupils and staff, killing eight before taking his own life.

Police initially described the shooter as a “gunperson” and a “female in a dress”. They later revealed that Van Rootselaar had begun transitioning at the age of 12 and publicly identified as female.

Police have not revealed a motive, but posts retrieved by the Telegraph from the shooter’s deleted social media accounts reveal a troubled teenager with mental health issues and difficulties transitioning to become a woman.

Van Rootselaar, who described himself as “mtf” in posts (shorthand for male-to-female), recorded a video of himself in October 2023 firing a high-powered Desert Eagle handgun at a shooting range and shared his footage on a forum for other transgender people interested in guns.

In other posts sent to transgender communities, he asked “do I have a good build type for HRT [hormone replacement therapy]?”

“Any advice is appreciated, should I put on weight or anything? Work out?”

In another post dated March 31st 2020, he wrote in a message to a transgender group: “I’m trans MtF, I’m pre-HRT 15yo, I’m super skinny, so that sometimes makes me feel kinda good!”

“But I’m Pre-HRT and my expectations are minimal for chest growth, and I’m 6ft tall! Why can’t I be petit an [sic] smol [small]?”

Police have said it was “too early to say” whether there was any correlation between Van Rootselaar identifying as transgender and the shooting, and admitted that the motive for the killings may never be known.

Read More: Transgender Canada School Shooter Was 6ft But Wanted to Be “Petite”