Terrified students fled a secondary school in Canada on Tuesday after a mass shooter wearing a dress went on a deadly rampage.

The attacker has not yet been named, and their motive remains unclear. They were described as a ‘female in a dress with brown hair’ in an emergency alert sent to phones.

As police searched the school, they found six people shot dead. A seventh person with a gunshot wound died en route to the hospital.

Two more people were found dead at a nearby home believed to be connected to the deadly attack.

Schoolchildren barricaded their classroom doors with tables as they hid from the shooter.

Auto mechanic teacher Jarbas Noronha said he was locked in his classroom with his students for over two hours before they were escorted to safety.

‘We were in the safest part of the school,’ he told The New York Times. ‘If someone tried to break in through the hallway door, we would run to the yard through the garage doors.’

Noronha added, ‘I’m quite calm, but I still don’t know how many students were hurt. I don’t think many students are in a condition to go back now.’

The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks reacted to the Tumbler Ridge shooting.

‘While there are no words that can ease the pain or help fully process such a profound loss, please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you during this time of unimaginable grief and sorrow,’ the team wrote on X.

‘We also send our love, strength and support to those who were injured or deeply affected by this heartbreaking tragedy.’

The Royal Family released a statement from King Charles over the shooting in Tumbler Ridge.

‘My wife and I were profoundly shocked and saddened to learn of the most dreadful attack at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia,’ King Charles said.

He called Tumbler Ridge a ‘closely connected town’ and said the shooting casts an ‘appalling shadow’ over the community.

Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka told CBC that he knows every victim from Tuesday’s massacre.

‘I will know every victim. I’ve been here 19 years, and we’re a small community,’ he said.

‘I don’t call them residents. I call them family.’

The school district announced that Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and Tumbler Ridge Elementary School will be closed for the remainder of the week after Tuesday’s shooting.

‘Due to the tragic events that unfolded in community of Tumbler Ridge today, Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and Tumbler Ridge Elementary School will be closed for the rest of the week,’ the district said.

‘The district will make supports available and once we have the locations for where the supports will be we will put that information on social media.’

A recent newsletter uploaded by School District #59, the British Columbia school district that includes Tumbler Ridge, was a guide to risk assessments for threats of student violence.

The guidance outline what behaviors to look out for and how the assessment works.

David Eby, the Premier of British Columbia, said: ‘Government will ensure every possible support for community members in the coming days, as we all try to come to terms with this unimaginable tragedy.

‘This is something that will reverberate for years to come.’

Eby appeared stunned when asked during a news conference what he’d say to parents afraid to send their children to school.

‘This is the kind of thing that feels like it happens in other places, and not close to home in a way that this feels like for many British Columbians and Canadians,’ he said.

Tumbler Ridge auto mechanic teacher Jarbas Noronha said he was locked in his classroom with his students for over two hours before they were escorted to safety.

‘We were in the safest part of the school,’ he told The New York Times. ‘If someone tried to break in through the hallway door, we would run to the yard through the garage doors.’

Noronha added, ‘I’m quite calm, but I still don’t know how many students were hurt. I don’t think many students are in a condition to go back now.’

He said the shooting has shaken Tumbler Ridge, which he describes as a ‘hunting town.’

‘Everyone has guns here,’ Noronha said.

Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, has approximately 160 students from Grades 7 to 12, according to the school’s website.

‘There is a tremendous sense of community, as we tend to create strong and enduring relationships among staff and students,’ the school said.

The town is more than 600 miles north of Vancouver, near the border with Alberta.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who cancelled his trip to the Munich Security Conference, said: ‘I am devastated by today’s horrific shootings in Tumbler Ridge, BC. My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence.

‘I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens.

‘Our ability to come together in crisis is the best of our country — our empathy, our unity, and our compassion for each other.’

Carney added, ‘I have connected with Premier Eby to express my condolences, and with the Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree, who is coordinating the federal response.

‘Our officials are in close contact with their counterparts to ensure the community is fully supported as best we can. The Government of Canada stands with all British Columbians as they confront this horrible tragedy.’

Pictured: Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday