Lance Younge told CTV News on Wednesday that his son Ethan texted "I love you" shortly after 3pm on Tuesday and then called a short time later to say he was hiding in a utility room at his school in the small mountain community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, but that he didn't know where his sister Kylie was.
The family would find out hours later that Kylie Smith was one of the eight victims, mostly children, who were killed in attacks at the school and the home of the 18-year-old shooting suspect, who died from an apparent self-inflicted wound.
While looking for Kylie, Younge said he walked around the local recreation centre where students were reuniting with their families for about six hours, but that police wouldn't tell him anything.
"I went home not knowing where my daughter was until a high school kid ... came here and told us her story about trying to save my daughter's life," he said. "The police didn't tell us anything. We had to find out through the community and through kids and rumours in the stands."
The motive for Canada's deadliest attack in years remained unclear on Thursday.
Mourners braved frigid cold on Wednesday night to grieve the victims, with Mayor Darryl Krakowka telling them, "It's OK to cry."
Krakowka described the town as "one big family," and encouraged people to reach out and support each other, especially the families of those who died in the attack. The community must support victims' families "forever," not only in the days and weeks to come, he said.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, whom investigators identified as the shooter, had a history of police visits to her home to check on her mental health, authorities said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and stepbrother at the family home before attacking the nearby school.
Tumbler Ridge is near the provincial border with Alberta.
The town of 2700 people in the Canadian Rockies is more than 1000km northeast of Vancouver, near the provincial border with Alberta.
Police said the victims included a 39-year-old teacher and five students, ages 12 to 13.
"Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you, and Canada stands by you," an emotional Prime Minister Mark Carney said as he arrived in Parliament.
Carney planned to visit Tumbler Ridge on Friday.
The attack was Canada's deadliest rampage since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead.
Carney said flags at government buildings will be flown at half-staff for seven days and added: "We will get through this.".
School shootings are rare in Canada, which has strict gun-control laws. The government has responded to previous mass shootings with gun-control measures, including a recently broadened ban on all guns it considers assault weapons.
