‘Whenever you saw him, you saw his smile’: Father remembers 12-year-old Tumbler Ridge shooting victim

When Abel Mwansa walked into a room, people noticed his smile first, his father says.

“Whenever you see Abel, you see his smile,” said Abel Mwansa Sr. “I told him putting on a smile heals your body.”

The 12-year-old was among eight victims killed in the Feb. 10 mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C, one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history. Six of the victims were children.

In the days since, Mwansa says he has been cherishing the memories of Abel, whom he describes as being ambitious, curious and always kind.

Mwansa, 40, moved his family to Canada from Zambia in March 2023 for work in the mining sector. Abel was born in May 2013 in Kitwe, in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province. 

Mwansa says he was so overwhelmed with joy at Abel’s birth that he gave his son his own name.

“My son was a different kid altogether. We knew this kid was special,” he said. “He loved everybody. He could turn enemies into friends.”

From a young age, Abel loved soccer. He dreamed of becoming a professional footballer and quickly joined a team after arriving in Tumbler Ridge.

“He was very good at it,” his father said. “He got a number of medals for scoring or becoming the best player.”

He also enjoyed skating and rollerblading, often helping other children learn how to balance and move. But his greatest fascination, his father says, was science.

“He would say, ‘Dad, sometimes I don’t understand how things are made,’” the 40-year-old recalled.

Father of Tumbler Ridge shooting victim grapples with the unthinkable

Abel spent hours watching videos and experimenting with homemade projects. At times, the family refrigerator held unlabelled bottles of mysterious liquids, which were part of some of his experiments in progress. 

There was a household rule, Mwansa says: “If it looked like juice but had no label, don’t drink it. That’s Abel’s project.”

“If he lived up to my age or beyond, he would have been great,” his father said. “Someone you would sit down and listen to. The boy was so intelligent.”

The Government of Zambia says in a statement that it is heartbroken by the loss of “a young Zambian whose promising life has been cut short.”

About six months ago, Mwansa says he considered homeschooling Abel, as he wanted to spend more time with his son. 

“I have a friend who homeschools his kid and I was so impressed.”

But Abel fiercely objected to that idea.

‘[He] just started screaming, saying he wanted to be with his friends and teacher. If happiness to him means going to school, I thought, let him go.”

In the days since the shooting, classmates and community members have shared stories with Abel’s family, his father say.

Mwansa says he has heard from children who said Abel was urging others to run during the chaos.

“He was shouting, screaming, telling everyone to run, escape through the door. My daughter came crying saying that Abel was trying to save a kid and died in the process,” he said.