The victim has been identified by family members as Meagen Mancheese, 16. (Facebook)

Family members of a 16-year-old girl shot to death in a small Manitoba community gathered near the scene Thursday and sobbed.

"I can tell you that she was a good girl," Jamie Maliteare, the uncle of the girl, identified by family as Meagen Mancheese, said before being overcome with emotion.

"I can say that I'm here for her, here for her family, her parents, just everybody that loves her.

"I'd like to thank everybody for helping our family online, and in person and on the phone."

The RCMP have been at the scene of the shooting, a farmhouse in the Rural Municipality of Hillsburg, 20 kilometres east of the community of Roblin, since about 10 a.m. Wednesday.

At 3:15 p.m. Thursday, they confirmed the girl's death was being treated as a homicide and that an autopsy showed she died of a gunshot wound.

Maliteare spoke at the edge of the property, which is surrounded by yellow tape. He was with Mancheese's grandmother, Rose Paul, who fought through sobs to speak.

"She was a very beautiful girl," Paul said. "And we just love her. She was very responsible and loving."

'She was a very beautiful girl. And we just love her. She was very responsible and loving.'— Rose Paul, victim's grandmother

According to news reports and local residents, Mancheese was allegedly shot by a 17-year-old boy, who then turned the gun on himself.

Police only said the boy suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The boy was critically injured but did not die. He called 911 for help and was taken to hospital in Winnipeg in critical but stable condition.

Members of his family do not want to speak with the news media and are asking that their privacy be respected, said a statement from Heidi Graham, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Maliteare said it doesn't matter who shot Mancheese, only that she's gone.

Students grieve

Students in Roblin have said Mancheese and the 17-year-old attended Goose Lake High School in town.

Police block a driveway leading to the house where an apparent double-shooting claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl. (Brady Strachan/CBC)

The students have been consoling one another and trying to comprehend the violence and learn more about what exactly happened.

"All you see are people crying, going to bathrooms, not really saying anything," said Josie Kitsch, a Grade 11 student. "It's a small town, you don't expect anything like this really."

A crisis unit is being brought to the school to help young people deal with their grief, said Jack Sullivan, Mountain View School Division superintendent.

The school was closed Thursday for Remembrance Day, but counsellors will be there Friday when it reopens, he said.

About 35 teens gathered at the Evangelical Mission Church on Wednesday night, said youth Pastor Ryan Wisener, noting there is a lot of confusion about what actually happened.

Police tight-lipped

Until Thursday afternoon, police said little about the incident, only telling local media that a "major incident" had taken place and they were investigating the death of a female at a rural location near Roblin.

Police asked anyone with information about the homicide to call the RCMP at 204-937-8054.

Goose Lake student Nathan Paul struggled as he talked about the tragedy.

"I feel pretty crappy, 'cause, well, I didn't really talk to them, but [he was] my best friend's brother and well … oh, it's just rough," he said.

Roblin is 400 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, not far from the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.

With files from The Canadian Press