The memorial for the victims killed in a mass shooting, is seen in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., Feb. 15.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Steven Rai is a senior research manager at the Institute of Strategic Dialogue who has previously worked in counterterrorism with the Government of Canada
After the Tumbler Ridge school shooting, Canadian parents must confront a frightening possibility: some school threats may now be emerging from online spaces where fascination with mass shooters, misanthropy, and the glorification of violence reinforce one another.
Police have said the motive remains under investigation, and it would be wrong to draw firm conclusions about what drove the attack before the evidence is fully known.
But public reporting describes a pattern familiar to researchers of online violent ecosystems – an obsession with mass violence, fixation on gore and attack footage, and a seeming lack of an ideological purpose. That footprint does not prove participation in any specific online community, but it does suggest exposure to online spaces that can normalize violent fantasy. It also points to a threat environment increasingly described by experts as “nihilistic violence,” where violence is driven less by ideology than by misanthropy and a desire for notoriety.
Tumbler Ridge was Canada’s deadliest recent school shooting, with six people killed at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, but it was not an isolated case of violence targeting schools. During the 2025-26 school year, schools across Canada experienced threats, arrests, lockdowns, and alleged attack plots. These incidents differed in severity and motive. Details have often been scarce, and many cases remain under investigation. However, as researchers learn more about the violent online ecosystems surrounding them, recurring dynamics are becoming harder to ignore.
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The pattern extends across the country. In Saskatchewan, police arrested two girls; one was reportedly linked to school shooter fandoms and allegedly had a manifesto outlining plans to attack students. Police in Manitoba and Nova Scotia disrupted an alleged plot for simultaneous school attacks. In British Columbia, a youth was arrested following online conversations with a Kentucky teenager who allegedly made school shooting threats.
Schools have also faced repeated “swatting” campaigns, in which false emergency reports trigger an armed police response. In recent months, Toronto police responded to multiple hoax bomb threats, while Metro Vancouver schools were placed under hold-and-secure protocols after threats. In Pickering, Ont., a school became the centre of incidents tied to the “Com,” a loose online ecosystem in which minors can be coerced into harming themselves or others.
These cases are not identical. Mass shootings, attack plots, swattings, and online threats require different responses. But it would be unwise to ignore the connective tissue between them. Many involved minors, escalated online, crossed jurisdictions, or lacked clear ideological objectives.
The challenge is that Canada’s violence prevention frameworks are better at responding to imminent threats than addressing earlier signs of risk. While law enforcement tools remain vital when there is immediate danger, they cannot be the only response to online ecosystems where violent fantasy, coercion, notoriety seeking, and harm against others can converge.
Two online environments – which sometimes overlap – are especially relevant to this growing phenomenon.
The first is the True Crime Community, a loose online subculture where users obsess over mass killers. In extreme cases, it can become a fandom of violence, where perpetrators are glorified and emulated. Young people may come to see violence as a route to recognition, while previous attackers become characters in an online mythology. In such spaces, admiration and imitation can reinforce one another and sustain a deadly cycle.
The second environment is the Com, a loosely connected, transnational ecosystem where coercion, sextortion, swatting, self-harm, animal abuse, and violent fantasy can intersect. One network within this world is 764, which has been tied to several charges in Canada.
These spaces often target minors, using shame or blackmail to pressure them into harmful behaviour. This coercion can blur the line between victim and abuser and complicate responses based purely on punishment or treatment.
The relevance of these subcultures does not mean every recent Canadian school threat can be attributed to them. However, they help explain why some youths issue threats, glorify attackers, participate in swatting, or conduct violence without necessarily harbouring an ideological motive.
These ecosystems also help explain why some school threats are designed to generate fear and attention regardless of whether violence follows. Swatting is one example, and it should not be dismissed as harmless mischief. It traumatizes victims, diverts emergency resources, wastes money, and can create physical danger. In coercive online networks, it can also punish victims, frighten families, demonstrate capability, or elevate a user’s reputation.
The answer is not to make schools feel like security zones or to demonize adolescent curiosity, dark humour, or participation in niche online communities. Overreaction can discourage youth from seeking help and drive concerning behaviour underground. But underreaction is also dangerous. Online cultures that glamorize violence can have lethal offline consequences, especially when they intersect with social isolation, weapons access, or a desire for notoriety.
Preventing violence does not require every parent, teacher, sibling, or friend to become an expert in the True Crime Community, 764, or the Com. The most important warning signs often appear offline, including escalating threats, attempts to acquire weapons, self-harm, cruelty toward others, sudden secrecy around online activity, visible fear of online peers, or behaviour that alarms bystanders. No single sign proves mobilization toward violence, but clusters of changes, especially when they emerge suddenly or escalate, should prompt care, curiosity, and assessment by appropriate professionals.
Those closest to young people also need trusted pathways to raise concerns, and confidence that doing so will lead to genuine support, not automatic punishment. Families need practical guidance from experts that encourages curiosity rather than surveillance, while schools need clear ways to assess and escalate concerns without defaulting to suspension or expulsion. Front-line professionals also need support from researchers who understand how these online spaces evolve, how young people are drawn into them, and when online behaviour may signal offline risk. The goal is to recognize concerns earlier and intervene before arrest becomes the only option.
Law enforcement remains vital when threats are credible, coercive networks are involved, or young people appear to be moving toward violence. However, policing cannot be the only response. If Canada’s institutions wait until a minor has issued threats, acquired weapons, or planned an attack, earlier chances to intervene may have been missed.
Social media platforms also have a role to play. Much of the harmful conduct associated with these ecosystems, including threats, extortion, child sexual exploitation, and incitement to violence, likely already violates existing platform policies. The challenge is that enforcement is often too slow and fragmented, allowing users to move between services, create backup accounts, and rebuild communities after disruption. Platforms should respond with faster enforcement, better information sharing, and stronger action against repeat offenders.
Canada needs to modernize how it thinks about school violence prevention. The current threat environment sits uneasily across counterterrorism, cybercrime, exploitation, mental health, education, online harms, and public safety. No single system owns the problem, which is precisely why governments should support multidisciplinary prevention models, clearer referral pathways, and earlier interventions for young people showing signs of escalation.
Canadian schools remain safe places for children to learn, but the threats they face are changing. Canada’s response must be deliberate and urgent, not panicked. That means intervening earlier, disrupting imminent threats, and denying violent actors the attention they seek.