U.S. resident charged with helping Canadian school shooter in rampage that killed 8 in Tumbler Ridge

A 30-year-old Washington state resident was charged with providing assistance to a teenager who killed eight people in Canada, including schoolchildren, U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday.

James Cody Bryant, who the FBI said identifies as female, was arrested Tuesday and is charged with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country in connection with the Feb. 10 shootings in the British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge, officials said.

Prosecutors said Bryant had been in contact over Discord with the shooter, who killed five children and a teacher at a secondary school, as well as two other people. He gave the shooter advice and money and offered to help livestream the killings, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Bryant “had been in repeated contact” with the shooter, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, Neil Floyd, said at a news conference Tuesday.

Bryant “had the information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the shooter — but chose not to,” Floyd said. “Instead, he encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer.”

About 2 p.m. Feb. 10, Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, who was born male but had been transitioning to female for six years, killed her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, officials said.

She then went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and killed five children — three 12-year-old girls and two boys, one 12 and the other 13 — and a teacher, authorities said. Van Rootselaar then died by suicide.

The rampage was one of the deadliest shootings in Canada’s history. In addition to those who were killed, two other children were shot and seriously wounded, officials said.

Bryant tried to talk Van Rootselaar out of the attack or get her to reconsider several times but did not tell law enforcement about the plan and offered to livestream it, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The two met on the former random video chat service Omegle around three years before the shooting and kept in contact through Discord, an online communication service, said W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office.

There is no indication the two ever met in person, he said.

The back-and-forth messages on Discord cited in the complaint have a conversational and friendly tone. At one point, Bryant writes, “You believe me when I promise I won’t snitch on you, right?” At another point, Bryant tells Van Rootselaar, “if you are uncertain, maybe take it as a sign.”

On the day of the shootings, after Van Rootselaar killed her mother and stepbrother, she had trouble starting her car, Floyd said.

“Bryant provided advice and offered assistance on how to get the car started so that JVR could proceed to the school and kill children,” Floyd said, using the initials for the shooter’s name.

The charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country carries up to life in prison.

Bryant was in custody Tuesday, officials said. Online federal court records did not show an attorney representing Bryant on Tuesday afternoon.

The shooting was livestreamed on Twitch, but for only about 20 seconds before it shut off, officials said.

Twitch said an account appearing to be Bryant’s was the only account that saw it, according to the criminal complaint.

Herrington, of the FBI, said the shooter wanted maximum views but didn’t have much of a social media presence.

“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. “We certainly know that the shooter was concerned that not enough people would see the livestream.”

Elija Rain, assistant commissioner of the British Columbia Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the impact of the shooting was widespread.

“The people of Tumbler Ridge experienced a tragedy that forever changed the lives of families, friends, students, educators, first responders and the entire community,” he said.