Surgery to repair skull a success for Tumbler Ridge shooting victim Maya Gebala
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
VANCOUVER – The father of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who was gravely injured in the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shootings, says surgery to repair her damaged skull has been a success.
David Gebala says in a Facebook post that Maya underwent a cranioplasty to repair her skull, and there are “no visible signs” of an infection that previously hampered her recovery.
Maya was shot three times in the Feb. 10 attack in the remote northeastern B.C. community, in which eight victims died.
Investigators say 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their home before going to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where she shot dead five children, an educational assistant, then herself.
Maya’s mother, Cia Edmonds, previously said the surgery would be her fifth, and hopefully her last.
David Gebala says his daughter is “not entirely out of the woods yet” and she is still experiencing a buildup of fluid in parts of her brain, but he says the family is optimistic the surgery will help.
“Our hope is that over the next 10 days and beyond, her hydrocephalus (fluid buildup) will subside naturally so she can avoid another surgery for a shunt,” the father says in his Facebook post, noting Maya has already recovered enough to look around and squeeze people’s fingers.
“Our sweet, innocent little girl has been through so much. It breaks my heart to watch her endure all of this,” he writes. “But at the same time, I’ve never been more proud of what a fighter she is.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.