Five Words Before the Shot: Police Confirm What Jesse Van Rootselaar Told Her Brother Moments Before the Tragedy Unfolded… 💔

Mayor of Tumbler Ridge Darryl Krakowka speaks to the media the day after a deadly mass shooting took place in the British Columbia town.

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Tumbler Ridge’s Mayor Darryl Krakowka said the town is “one big family,” as he choked back tears during a news conference alongside federal and provincial officials Wednesday evening.

He encouraged residents to support each other. “Lend your ear when somebody needs your ear, lend your shoulder when somebody needs your shoulder. Give somebody a hug,” he said.

Krakowka thanked the British Columbia Premier and other officials for providing assistance.

“We’re going to need your support.”

A 12-year-old girl, Maya, who was shot in the head and neck at Tumbler Ridge secondary school is fighting for her life in hospital, according to note from her mother on a GoFundMe page verified by CNN.

Maya was severely wounded in the school shooting Tuesday and was transported to Vancouver Children’s Hospital, where she is currently in critical care, according to the GoFundMe, organized by a relative.

“Today started as any other,” Maya’s mother Cia Edmonds wrote in an update on the page. “Now, however, my 12 year old daughter is fighting for her life while they try to repair the damage from a gun shot wound to the head. And one to the neck.”

“This doesn’t even feel real,” she said. “I never thought I would be asking for prayers… but please please, pray for my baby.”

In a later update to the page, Edmonds wrote that she is holding on to a “shred of hope.”

“We need a miracle,” she said.

Flowers sit outside of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School where the shooting took place, leaving several people dead in the small town of Tumbler Ridge.

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Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka said the remote mountain town is grieving together following Tuesday’s mass shooting.

“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire district and region. Our community has been shaken by this tragedy,” Krakowka said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We recognize that there are many questions to be answered as we all try to make sense of this incomprehensible and devastating event,” he said, asking residents to rely on official police updates for information.

Krakowka also thanked “brave teachers, administrators, students and first responders” and encouraged Tumbler Ridge residents to check in on one another.

A Canadian flag is lowered to half-staff at the Guy-Favreau Complex on Wednesday in Montreal, Canada.

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Thursday has been declared a day of mourning in Canada’s British Columbia after a shooter killed eight people in Tumbler Ridge, in the northeast of the province.