Washington Man Arrested for Helping Plan Canada's Deadliest School Shooting in Decades

An Online Friendship Turned Into a Murder Conspiracy

Bryant began an online friendship with Van Rootselaar after meeting on video chatting website Omegle three years before the shooting. What started as a casual connection on a now-defunct platform would eventually spiral into one of the most disturbing criminal conspiracies in recent North American history. The two developed a friendship over the period of six months before they began to focus on discussions of violence.

James Cody Bryant, 30, was arrested in Bellingham, Washington, on Tuesday morning on a charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, according to the US Justice Department. The charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Bryant appeared in court Tuesday afternoon in Seattle, and a hearing has been set for October 20.

Canada's Deadliest School Shooting in Decades

On the afternoon of February 10, Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their home before going to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where she killed six people and injured 27 others before killing herself. The incident was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada since the Nova Scotia attacks in 2020, and the deadliest school shooting in Canada since the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989.

Tumbler Ridge is a small mining town with a population of 2,399, according to the 2021 census. The devastation of such an attack on such a tight-knit community was immense. The shooting was "a horrific tragedy for that small community and for all of Canada," acting US Attorney Neil Floyd said at a news conference in Seattle.

The Chilling Details of Bryant's Alleged Role

Officials allege Bryant had been in contact with the shooter on the social media platform Discord leading up to the attack, and that the criminal complaint says Bryant "knowingly and wilfully" conspired with Van Rootselaar beginning in or before August 2025. The alleged assistance went far beyond words. The money Bryant gave the shooter amounted to a little over $100, primarily to buy a lighter and a pair of shoes that Van Rootselaar "wanted to have when she conducted this killing spree."

Perhaps most chillingly, Bryant allegedly stayed involved even as the attack unfolded. Prosecutors allege that Van Rootselaar had challenges starting the vehicle after shooting and killing her mother and brother at home, and it was allegedly Bryant who "provided advice and offered assistance on how to get the car started so that JVR could proceed to the school and kill children." Bryant also allegedly "agreed to record a live stream feed of the attack and broadcast it in a way that would maximize notoriety for the shooter." That livestream was allegedly online for about 20 seconds before it was shut down.

Acting US Attorney Neil Floyd told reporters: "James Cody Bryant had the information and ability to alert law enforcement and even discussed that possibility with the shooter, but he chose not to, and he encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer." Around August 11, Bryant told Van Rootselaar they should "find a way to delete" their messages, the documents say.

A Broader Web of Accountability

Law enforcement officers said a cross-border investigation began after the RCMP received information from Discord, one of the online platforms used by Van Rootselaar. The arrest of Bryant is not the only legal fallout from the tragedy. Seven families of victims sued tech company OpenAI in April after information emerged that the shooter had used ChatGPT to plan the attack, and the week before the suit was filed, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to the community for not alerting law enforcement after Van Rootselaar's account was banned.

The Tumbler Ridge case is forcing a hard reckoning with how online platforms, anonymous chat tools, and AI systems can be weaponized in the planning of mass violence — and who bears responsibility when warning signs go ignored. With Bryant's next hearing set for October 20 and civil litigation against OpenAI still unfolding, the legal and moral accounting for February 10 is far from over.