Federal law enforcement officials are charging a Washington state resident with helping a school shooter in Canada earlier this year.
On February 10, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed two family members, five other children, and a school staff member in the remote community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, before turning the gun on herself.
U.S. authorities allege the shooter had help and encouragement from James Cody Bryant, 30, of Bellingham, who was arrested Tuesday and is facing a charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.
The Tumbler Ridge shooting was one of the deadliest in Canadian history. Dozens were injured and two severely wounded in the school where Van Rootselaar was a former student. In the school, she shot a 39-year-old female teacher as well as three 12-year-old female students and two male students, one aged 12 and one aged 13. Van Rootselaar then died by suicide. Police recovered a long gun and a modified handgun, according to Reuters. Canadian officials said police had been to Van Rootselaar’s home on multiple occasions for calls related to her mental health concerns.
W. Mike Herrington is special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office. He said Bryant and Van Rootselaar discussed every detail of the attack, and Bryant sent money via Paypal so Van Rootselaar could buy her preferred shoes to wear the day of the shooting and a lighter to ignite an explosive device.
“In addition to providing money, technical advice, and particular items to be used in the shooting, Bryant agreed to record a livestream feed of the attack and broadcast it in a way that would maximize notoriety for the shooter,” Herrington said.
He added other messages suggest Bryant even advised Van Rootselaar when she had trouble starting her car to get to the school, after shooting her mother and stepbrother.
“Even after the shooter had already tragically killed two family members, Bryant assisted the shooter in successfully traveling to a second location to take even more lives,” Herrington said.
Bryant will be charged with conspiring to murder persons in a foreign country, which could be punishable by life in prison. Officials said the two communicated on the online platform Discord, which contacted law enforcement after the shooting.
Charging documents included written exchanges where the two appear to discuss weapons, locations, and how to livestream the shooting. In August 2025, Van Rootselaar told Bryant she wanted the “title” of deadliest school shooting in Canada. Bryant responded about the choice of target: “Hallways also mean a lot of ways people can escape. Corners to turn. Wide open spaces means numbers.”
Around the same time Van Rootselaar also said, “I really hope you wouldn’t ever snitch.”
Bryant responded, “I don’t want to honestly. I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk.”
Herrington said the “casual tone” of their conversations made the complaint “particularly difficult to read.” The government press release said there were also conversations where Bryant “tried to talk Van Rootselaar out of doing the attack,” but Bryant did not contact law enforcement and agreed to handle the live-streaming just minutes before the attack; however, officials said the livestream shut down after about 20 seconds.
Herrington said the offer of long-distance aid still constituted a crime.
”If you think you are safe from prosecution because you did not pull the trigger or were not physically present at the scene of the crime, think again,” he said.
Officials said they believe Bryant and Van Rootselaar first met about three years ago through a now-defunct video chat service “that randomly matches people.” There’s no indication that the two ever met in person. Both were transgender women, officials said. They said there’s no indication the two had any affiliation with other groups. Court documents depict a photo apparently taken by Van Rootselaar and shared with Bryant of a firearm with a transgender pride flag behind it.
The criminal investigation in Canada remains active, Herrington said, adding authorities will “ ultimately decide who’s in the best position to levy a prosecution.” But acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said Bryant is being charged in the U.S. at this point.
”All the activity involved in this was committed here in the state of Washington,” Floyd said. ”We’ve got the right charge, we’ve got all the evidence, and we’ve got the person here.”
Van Rootselaar’s alleged use of ChatGPT to plan the shooting has resulted in lawsuits against OpenAI from the families of victims and by British Columbia, which filed suit in September. The lawsuit said the company flagged the chats but did not report them to police. Mother Jones reports ChatGPT helped Van Rootselaar evade its own safeguards by framing questions as fictional or hypothetical.
Source: www.kuow.org
