Federal authorities in the United States arrested a 30-year-old Washington state resident in connection with a mass shooting that left eight people dead at a home and a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The U.S. Department of Justice charged James Cody Bryant with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country following an extensive investigation into his communication with 18-year-old shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar.
According to federal prosecutors, Bryant maintained ongoing contact with Van Rootselaar for six months leading up to the February 10 attack. Investigators revealed that Bryant provided tactical advice, financial support, and technical assistance-including help testing equipment to record and livestream the violence online. The tragic shooting claimed the lives of six children and two adults, making it one of the deadliest mass casualty events in modern Canadian history.
Details of the Conspiratorial Role and Arrest
During a joint news conference with Canadian law enforcement, Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd stated that Bryant and Van Rootselaar began communicating via the social platform Discord around August 2025. Court documents outline that Bryant offered counsel on how to increase the scale of the carnage, suggested what firearms and items to use, and sent money used to purchase materials including a lighter for an improvised explosive device.
Authorities also noted that Bryant advised the shooter on maintaining secrecy by deleting messages and utilizing virtual private networks (VPNs). Crucially, investigators stated that even after Van Rootselaar had killed two family members at home-her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother-and struggled to get the family vehicle started, Bryant provided instructions on how to turn over the engine, enabling the shooter to drive to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
At the school, Van Rootselaar fatally shot five children ages 12 and 13 along with an educational assistant before dying by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Weighing Intervention Versus Complicity
Federal officials emphasized that Bryant possessed both the knowledge and the capability to alert law enforcement to the plot but chose not to do so. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office, highlighted the critical nature of Bryant’s involvement.
Without Bryant’s misplaced loyalty and willingness to operate the livestream, we don’t ultimately know if the shooter would have gone through with the crime,
Herrington said during the briefing. He noted that while Bryant occasionally attempted to discourage the attacks, he ultimately agreed to manage the broadcast and confirmed receipt of the stream moments before the tragedy unfolded. The livestream remained online for approximately 20 seconds and recorded a single view.
Broader Legal Aftermath and Accountability
The devastation in Tumbler Ridge has triggered widespread legal fallout across Canada and the United States. In the months following the tragedy, multiple civil lawsuits were filed by victims’ families. Notably, the province of British Columbia and several affected families filed legal action against tech giant OpenAI after disclosures showed that Van Rootselaar had consulted ChatGPT regarding the attack plans prior to execution.
In response to the public outcry, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman issued an open letter in April expressing deep remorse that the company failed to flag the user interactions to law enforcement.
Bryant currently faces a maximum sentence of up to life in federal prison if convicted of conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country. The ongoing investigation is being led by the FBI alongside Homeland Security Investigations and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). U.S. officials maintain that Bryant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
