As the nation mourns after Canada’s deadliest school shooting in modern history, a question looms for people both close to the events and further away: Why? As with other mass shootings, this painful question is complex and difficult to answer.

Read more: Why mass shootings can’t be reduced to a mental illness diagnosis

As reported by the New York Times, an investigation into the shooter’s online life “offers a chronicle of a young person’s gradual descent into mental health crises and radicalization into extreme violence.”

As a researcher focused on preventing radicalization to violence and extremism — and who recently created a public resource about countering radicalization to violence in Manitoba schools — I believe a violent extremism trend analysis could be relevant towards potentially helping to prevent such tragedies through addressing potential education or policy gaps.

Schools navigate risks, threats

School shooting incidents are rare in Canada in comparison to the United States. Among these, the 1989 École Polytechnique Montréal massacre and the 2016 La Loche, Sask., high school attack are notable.

CNN reports that in the U.S., after school closures in 2020 led to a drop in gun violence at schools, recent years saw an increase in school shootings, with 2021 through 2024 each setting records not seen since at least 2008.

Incidents like the Tumbler Ridge shooting can have ripple effects in the form of threats, as was seen this past week in Manitoba.

Nihilist violent extremists

In making sense of senseless mass murder in Tumbler Ridge, trends shows that youth radicalization to violent extremism is both real and dangerous. A growing trend of violence for its own sake, driven by hate among young people, is rapidly re-shaping traditional extremism studies.

For example, experts concerned with violent extremism like........

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