Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has told residents of Tumbler Ridge that the country is “with you, and we will always be with you”, during a candlelight vigil for the eight victims of a mass shooting that has shattered the small mining town.

The prime minister, holding hands with opposition leader Pierre Poilievre while flanked by First Nations chiefs and local officials, paid tribute to the families enduring the loss of loved ones, after the shooting at a local school that has become one of the most deadly attacks in Canadian history.

“I know that nothing I can say will bring your children home,” the prime minister told nearly 2,000 people huddled in the cold and holding candles. “I know that no words from me or anyone can fill the silence in your homes tonight, and I won’t pretend otherwise.”

On Tuesday, an 18-year-old transgender woman opened fire at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, killing five students and a teacher, after earlier killing her mother and stepbrother at home. The attacker then took her own life.

Police recently released the names of the victims from the school, and at the vigil, leaders remembered Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert, Ezekiel Schofield and educator Shannda Aviugana-Durand.

Maya Gebala, 12, who was wounded in the head and neck, and Paige Hoekstra, 19, who also suffered bullet wounds, remain hospitalized in Vancouver.

“When we leave here tonight and some of you go back to quiet houses, some of you go back to empty rooms, please know that you’re not alone,” Carney said. “Canada is a community that relies on each other’s grace, and may that grace bless us all.”

Earlier in the day, federal leaders walked to the memorial outside the school, meeting for the first time with victims’ families. Both Carney and Poilievre fought back tears as they spoke with victims’ families for the first time.

The two, who have clashed politically in recent weeks, have set aside partisan differences in order to show a unified front – a move welcomed by residents of the town.

“Today, there are no Conservatives. There are no Liberals, New Democrats, Greens or Bloc Quebecois” said Poilivre. “We are all just mothers and fathers. We all watch our kids going to school, expecting them to come back to us”.

Poilievre commended Carney for his “tremendous grace” and the two leaders joined hands as an Indigenous leader sang a prayer outside the town hall.

Leaders praised the acts of heroism and courage they said defined the town and its residents. British Columbia premier David Eby singled out one teacher who “did everything right” by barricading students in a classroom, even though his own son had left the class to use the bathroom. Eby credited older students for comforting and protecting younger students.

Eby also promisedthe students that, under no circumstances, would any be forced to return to the school. “We will provide a safe place for you to go back to school.”

Dwayne McDonald, the deputy commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, said earlier Friday that the alleged shooter did not appear to be searching for a specific target at the school.

“This suspect was, for lack of a better term, hunting,” McDonald said. “They were prepared and engaging anybody and everybody they could come in contact with.”

McDonald described a “chaotic” scene at the school when police arrived, with fire alarms sounding and a person yelling out a window that the suspect was upstairs.

“They entered the school, proceeded to go up the stairwell, and were met with gunfire,” he said. “It was a matter of seconds after that there was more gunfire, not as we know now, having reviewed video, directed at any persons. Then the suspect took their life.”

Mayor Darryl Krakowka told the community to “make space” for each other, warning that the coming days would reveal the immense difficulty of returning to the routine of daily life. But he praised their resilience.

“Tumbler Ridge has been shaken, but not broken.”