LA LOCHE, Sask. — As phone calls started coming in from panicked students and teachers about a shooter on the loose, RCMP sped down the street to the local high school and found its main doors blasted with holes.
Mounties say one officer quickly spotted a boy with a gun inside and chased him through the building. Within a few minutes, and without a fight, police say he surrendered.
But so much damage had already been done.
Saskatchewan RCMP say that during the eight minutes the teen was in the La Loche Community school on Friday afternoon, he shot nine people. Two staff members died.
Then they learned there were more victims.
Two brothers, one 13 and the other 17, were discovered dead in a home not far away.
On Saturday, RCMP announced that they had charged a 17-year-old suspect with four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
He can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Investigators could provide no motive.
"It's a significant event for Canada," RCMP Supt. Grant St. Germaine told reporters gathered in the remote Dene community. "I think it's part of changing times. What we're seeing is what appears to be more violence — and not being able to account for why."
St. Germaine said he also doesn't know if the victims were sought out or targeted at random.
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