A visibly shaken Mark Carney has promised Canadians they will make it through the aftermath of a mass shooting in a small western town, in which an assailant killed nine people and then themselves in one of the deadliest such attacks in the country’s history.

“It’s obviously a very difficult day for the nation,” said the Canadian prime minister on Wednesday, who at one point looked close to tears. “This morning, parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love.”

Speaking to journalists a day after the shooting that included an attack on a high school, Carney added: “We will get through this. We will learn from this. But right now, it’s a time to come together, as Canadians always do in these situations, these terrible situations, to support each other, to mourn together and to grow together.”

Carney, who had already suspended plans to travel to Germany for the high-level Munich security conference, said he had ordered flags on all government buildings be flown at half-mast for the next seven days. At parliament in Ottawa, Carney and other parties planned to stand for a moment of silence.

The attack has left people reeling in Canada, where mass shootings are rare, especially compared with the US. While the country has relatively high levels of gun ownership, it has imposed much stricter laws than its southern neighbour, including a ban on assault-style firearms and a freeze on the sale of handguns.

Carney said he was also dispatching the federal public safety minister, Gary Anandasangaree, to the small community of Tumbler Ridge, an isolated town of fewer than 2,500 residents in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, more than 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of Vancouver by road.

On Tuesday, after responding to reports of a shooting, police officers found six people dead inside the town’s high school. Two more bodies were found at a residence believed to be connected to the incident, and another person died on the way to hospital. The suspected shooter was found dead at the school, police added.

At least two other people were hospitalised with serious or life-threatening wounds, and as many as 25 people were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The town’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, said the small community was like a “big family”.

“I broke down,” Krakowka said. “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.”

British Columbia’s public safety minister, Nina Krieger, has said “speed and professionalism” had saved lives, and that a small detachment from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had “responded in two minutes”.

An active-shooter alert sent by the police to people in the area described the suspect as “female in a dress with brown hair”. Police Supt Ken Floyd later confirmed at a news conference that the suspect described in the alert was the same person found dead in the school.

Floyd said police would not comment on the possible motive of the attacker. “We’re following all leads to try to determine the connection to the shooter,” he said. “I think we will struggle to determine the ‘why’, but we will try our best to determine what transpired.”

It was not clear how many of the dead or injured were minors.

A 12-year-old girl was said to be “fighting for her life” in a Vancouver hospital after being shot in the head and neck, according to a widely shared Facebook post local media said was written by the girl’s mother, Cia Edmonds.

“She was a lucky one, I suppose. Condolences to the other families during this tragedy,” the post read. “This doesn’t even feel real.”

The district of Tumbler Ridge issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon, calling the shooting a “deeply distressing” incident. “We recognise that many residents may be feeling shocked, scared and overwhelmed,” the district said. “In the days ahead, we know this will be difficult for many to process. Please check in on one another, lean on available supports, and know that Tumbler Ridge is a strong and caring community.”

The Tumbler Ridge secondary school has 160 students in grades seven to 12, roughly ages 12 to 18, according to its website. The school will be closed for the rest of the week and counselling will be made available to those in need, school officials said.

“There are no words that can ease the fear and pain that events like this cause in a school community,” the Tumbler Ridge parent advisory council said in a statement. “We want families to know that the safety and wellbeing of students and staff are paramount, and we are grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel who acted quickly and professionally.”

On Tuesday, the town’s health centre was placed on Code Orange, signifying a mass-casualty incident or large-scale emergency response. But given the rural nature of the community, at least two victims were airlifted to larger hospitals. Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (Stars) said one of its aircraft from Grande Prairie, Alberta, was requested for the incident.

The attack is the second-deadliest school shooting in Canadian history. In 1989, a gunman killed 14 students at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique in an attack that targeted women. In 2016, five people were killed in a series of shootings in La Loche, Saskatchewan.

After the country’s deadliest mass shooting attack, which left 22 people dead in Nova Scotia in 2020, Canada banned about 1,500 models of assault weapons.

British Columbia’s premier, David Eby, called Tuesday’s attack an “unimaginable tragedy”.

As a father of three, Eby said news of the shooting “makes you want to hug your kids a little tighter”.

“Wrap these families with love. Not just tonight but tomorrow and into the future. This is something that will reverberate for years to come,” he said.