The RCMP has refused to explain why officers described Tumbler Ridge mass shooting suspect Jesse Strang (legal name Van Rootselaar) the way they did, noting that officers are not "prepared" to say more than has already been said.The initial public emergency alert on Tuesday described him as a "female in a dress with brown hair," and it was only nearly 24 hours later that the RCMP publicly revealed that he was a trans-identifying biological male..In a press conference later in the evening, the RCMP provided no further details about Strang and called him a "gunperson.".At a press conference on Wednesday that the RCMP was asked about reports that Strang was transgender and admitted that it was true."We identified the suspect as they chose to be identified in public and in social media," Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said. "I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who ... approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identified as female."When the Western Standard submitted a question about Strang's gender identity via the virtual chat system, the moderator omitted the word "transgender" to only ask about his identity."They're just wanting to know why we're waiting until now to confirm the identity of the suspect," the moderator told McDonald. He left out "transgender."."It's a good question and I know it's one of concern, specifically with the speed of social media," McDonald replied. "I think it's important to recognize that yesterday when we first provided a media availability, it was approximately five hours after the active shooter event — at that point in time we were still trying to lock down locations, we had victims we were evacuating."He said that "it's important for us, when we do release information, to get it accurate," citing an earlier correction of the death toll from ten to nine."We want to get information out as quick as possible, but we also appreciate that that information needs to be accurate, particularly when we're dealing with victims or the identity of a suspect," he added. "In this case our suspect was deceased. We had to locate next-of-kin ... I would hate for someone to find out that their loved one was deceased coming from our podium or coming from the news media in advance of being told in person."The Western Standard reached out to the RCMP asking when they became aware that Strang was a biological male who identified as transgender, whether they think not providing a biologically accurate description put people in danger, and why the wording of the question was changed."The Commanding Officer addressed this in his media availability yesterday to the extent that we're prepared to do so," Media Relations Officer Cpl. Brett Urano replied.
